60 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



while prices remain at their present low level, 

 any remedy for this poor return. These woods 

 have no annual expenditure except the main- 

 tenance of the fences and the payment of rates 

 and taxes. Any change in their condition, such 

 as clear- cutting and planting the cleared site 

 with larch, would involve considerable expense, 

 therefore probably the best plan of management 

 is to leave them for the present unaltered. A 

 rise in the price of second-class oak timber or 

 of oak bark, or a revival of charcoal burning, 

 might make them more remunerative. 



Good loam such as is suitable for tillage, if 

 free from any stagnant water, is the best soil 

 for oak, but fine oak is not confined to such 

 land. There are several districts in England 

 famous for the excellent quality of the oak 

 grown in them, and some of these have a sandy 

 soil. Some light soils burn up in a hot summer 

 and could not grow fine oaks, while other light 

 soils are always cool. Gravelly soils would 

 probably be unsuitable, and clay soils would 

 probably be suitable, unless they were liable to 

 crack in summer. These probabilities should be 

 considered before a decision to plant oak is made, 

 but the past history of the land, when attainable, 

 gives a much better notion of its suitability for 



