54 FORESTRY IN POLAND. 



selves, and become majestic and stately trees. The leaves 

 of this tree are much narrower, longer, and more deeply 

 cut than in the robur ; the bark is perfectly smooth, and 

 the acorn long and pointed. On my leaving the district 

 of Belsk, where they grew, five years ago, but few of these 

 trees remained, as the Jews, who are the renters and 

 fellers of timber, had cut them down indiscriminately, 

 with a view to immediate profit. These rich and immense 

 forests, which skirted the river Bug, where I 

 botanised sixteen years ago, are now no more, there 

 remaining only a few trees very thinly scattered, which 

 owe their existence only to the circumstance of their 

 being in situations far distant from the river. I procured 

 a considerable quantity of the acorns on my leaving 

 Poland, with the view of enriching this country; but, 

 having sent my collections via Dantzig, where the French 

 arrived shortly after, I am at this moment ignorant of the 

 manner in which they have been disposed of. Two 

 hundred bushels of acorns of this valuable species would 

 certainly be a great acquisition, if not a real source of 

 riches, to this country; they would answer for hedge- 

 planting perfectly well. 



' The Swirk is another tree that would be of great value 

 to this country ; it is a species of fir that is peculiar to 

 the mountains of Pokutia, or mountains of Penitence, to 

 which Ovid was exiled. The height and bulk of this tree 

 is incredible ; and it is not very nice in regard to soil, as 

 it grows in the most rocky and inclement situations on 

 the mountains. The white ash of the Palatinate of Belsk, 

 and a sort of maple, are trees that would also be of great 

 value in England ; they both grow to an immense height. 

 The Polish king, John Sobiesky, was so struck with the 

 size and beauty of these trees, that he built himself a 

 residence in the neighbourhood of the forests where they 

 grew, and formed a large town, which is still in existence, 

 to which he gave the name of Jaworow ; Jawor denoting, 

 in the Polish language, this species of acer. The black 



