AMONG THE PINES AND FIRS 201 



Darbishire, Shropshire, Andernesse, and a mosse 

 neere Manchester, not far from Leicesters house : 

 although that in time past not only all Lancaster- 

 shire, but a great part of the coast betweene 

 Chester and the Solwe were well stored.' At a 

 later date much attention was given to the culti- 

 vation of Scots pine in many parts of England, 

 both for its bold beauty as a woodland tree and 

 for its value as a timber producer. In the New 

 Forest, where pine is not indigenous, it was first 

 introduced by the plantation of Ocknell Clump 

 in 1776. After this it was largely planted on 

 the poor sandy soils throughout several of the 

 southern counties. But such plantations were 

 sometimes loudly condemned. * As to the first 

 of these, the Scotch Fir] Cobbett's opinion was 

 that * everybody in England knows too much 

 about it, seeing that it now covers hundreds of 

 thousands of acres that might have been covered 

 by some valuable Pine, or by some other tree.' 



Without considering this opinion critically, 

 it may be safely asserted that at the present 

 moment conifers, and the Scots pine by no means 

 least of these, are almost as well deserving of 

 attention as any other kinds of trees we have. 



