TREES AND WOODS 



and trying with a penknife which are the easiest 

 to cut. Oaks and ashes are among the hardest 

 of our English trees. Firs are largely used in 

 many ways for flooring and building purposes. 

 Beech was more grown in the days when wood 

 instead of coal was wanted for making fires, for 

 beech- wood burns steadily and quietly, and at 

 the same time gives out a great quantity of heat. 

 The trees that grow near rivers and in moist 

 places have usually, as we might expect, soft 

 kinds of wood ; such are the poplars, willows, 

 and alders. 



The oak is perhaps the tree that we feel 

 specially belongs to England, in spite of the fact 

 that it is found in all the neighbouring countries, 

 and that we import large quantities of it from 

 abroad. The old form of its name, 'aik' or 'ak/ 

 occurs in village names in many parts of Eng- 

 land ; we find several Actons, and also Akeley 

 Akenham, and Aikrigg. 



A hundred years ago a great deal of oak 

 was required to build the wooden ships for 

 the navy, and it was felt to be a patriotic duty 

 to plant large quantities of young trees to 

 keep up a sufficient supply. At all times the 

 acorns that fall from the oak trees have been 

 found valuable for feeding the swine in autumn- 

 time, and when the pigs are hunting about for 

 food they are also treading some of the acorns 

 into the ground and burying them in the earth. 

 This gives the acorns a better chance of grow- 



