CHAPTER IV 



TREES NATIVE AND NATURALISED 



" TIMBER of every kind which is found in Gaul 

 also grows in Britain, except the beech and the 

 silver fir." But Julius Caesar was in all prob- 

 ability mistaken in this pronouncement, for there 

 is little doubt that we may reckon the beech 

 amongst the natives, more especially of the South 

 Downs. The trees that are strictly indigenous to 

 British soil are more easy to count than might be 

 supposed. When miles upon miles of Britain were 

 still wrapt in silver mists of silence and solitude, 

 oak, ash, and thorn were trees for Puck of Pook's 

 Hill to conjure by, as we may learn from the 

 charming old English legends of Mr Rudyard Kip- 

 ling ; and these, not leaving out the beech, were 

 in truth the main deciduous trees of the English 

 woodland. Ivy, no doubt, crept up some of the 

 rugged stems of ash and oak, clasping them in 

 her sheltering arms and clothing them with her 

 green winter mantle, as she does still ; for ivy 

 is not the cruel jade she was once thought to be, 

 who smothered while she kissed. But there were 

 native evergreens besides, chief and foremost 

 amongst them the yew and the holly, both closely 

 entwined with all old-time English memories ; but 



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