48 Practical Forestry 



ated with trees that are long past their prime and whose 

 larger limbs have become hollowed and unhealthy. The 

 finest examples I have seen of brown oak were produced 

 at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, and on the Welbeck Estate 

 in Notts. The beautiful vivid green colour assumed by 

 oak timber under certain conditions is due to the action 

 of the fungus Peziza ceruginosa. As this colouring matter 

 in the timber is quite permanent and cannot be de- 

 stroyed, wood so affected is eagerly bought up by the 

 makers of fancy furniture. Unhealthy or dead trees in 

 damp shady positions are most often attacked by the fungus, 

 and we have known timber of the oak when left lying about 

 in the woodlands to assume this colour. Owing to the 

 scarcity and value of green oak timber experiments have 

 been undertaken to produce the colouring by artificial means, 

 but as far as we are aware the results were not satisfactory. 

 The best examples of green oak timber that we have seen 

 were produced in Kent, and in the North of Ireland. 



The Ash. When viewed in a purely economic sense the 

 ash must, next to the oak, be considered as our most valu- 

 able forest tree. The massive, deeply fluted, or cylindrical 

 trunk, the weighty swelling branches, and the usually pen- 

 dant masses of the freshest pea-green foliage, all combine 

 to render this tree one of the most majestic for ornamental 

 planting, but particularly so when associated with others 

 that are of a darker shade of green. The ash is indigenous 

 to Europe, Northern Africa, and North America, while 

 throughout the British Isles it is widely dispersed. 



It thrives tolerably well in most soils and situations, but 

 the finest timber is produced in fairly sheltered sites, and 

 where the soil is rich and open or freely interspersed with 

 loose rock or stones. In order to produce clean, springy 

 timber, such as is in request for the making of tool handles, 

 aeroplanes and agricultural implements, the ash should be 

 planted thickly in order to induce straight steins that are for 

 the greater part destitute of branches. For black, peaty soils, 

 or that of a dampish, loamy character the s;'plii)^ ash is 

 peculiarly suiter I. in which, after being cut over, it will 

 reproduce itself freely. At from thirty to forty years' 



