NOTES ON PARTICULAR TREES 73 



woods can be seen in Surrey. A great part of 

 that county consists of large and extremely 

 barren commons of heather and sandy soil. As 

 long as cattle browsed the commons, no trees 

 could grow in any numbers. During the last 

 century the neighbourhood of London made a 

 great change : villas replaced cottages and poor 

 farms became residential properties. The habit 

 of pasturing cattle on these barren commons 

 greatly decreased, with the result that an amazing 

 growth of young fir trees sprung up as soon as 

 they were no longer browsed by cattle. 



Scotch fir woods stretch for miles from the 

 neighbourhood of Sandown racecourse. The 

 ground under the trees is covered to the depth 

 of some inches with a deposit of fir needles; 

 sometimes not a blade of grass is to be seen. 

 The trees are close together, with clean boles 

 and no side branches. 



The state of these woods show that Scotch 

 fir can grow in perfect health when the trees 

 are not thinned artificially but allowed to thin 

 themselves by a struggle for existence. 



Scotch fir sells for a poor price, unless the 

 wood has a cheap haulage to a colliery so that 

 it can be sold for pit-props. 



Scotch fir of about sixty-years growth or less 



