FORESTRY 



A CHOUGH few counties are less 

 famed by reason of their wood- 

 lands than the County Palatine of 

 Durham, it still possesses sufficient 

 features of arboricultural interest 

 to repay those who may take the trouble to 

 investigate them. It would be beyond the scope 

 of this article to describe the forestry of Durham 

 in as comprehensive a manner as the subject 

 deserves, but an attempt will be made to deal 

 with the most salient features of its past and 

 present condition, and to note such of the 

 individual trees in the county as are above the 

 average in size, rarity, or interest. 



Clearly to understand the condition of forestry 

 in the county it is necessary to glance at its 

 physical, geological, and climatic features, to- 

 gether with such of its industries as affect or 

 influence the utilization of land. As is well 

 known, the boundary lines of Durham form an 

 irregular equilateral triangle, the apex of which 

 points almost due west, while its base is repre- 

 sented by the coast line of the North Sea. Its 

 physical features arc characterized by a tract of 

 high-lying and mountainous land reaching almost 

 to the centre of the county from its western apex, 

 and which slopes gradually downwards towards 

 the east. This mountain land forms some of the 

 most elevated portion of the Pennine Chain, and 

 is cut into and divided by the river valleys of the 

 Derwent (which ultimately joins the Tyne 

 above Newcastle), the Wear, and the Tees, the 

 first and last of which form the north-east and 

 south-west boundary lines of the county, while 

 Upper Weardale practically divides the district 

 lying to the west of a line drawn between 

 Consett and Barnard Castle into two equal 

 portions. It is thus seen that the physiography 

 of the western portions of the county is very 

 different from that prevailing on the east side. 

 . In the former, high-lying, exposed mountain 

 land, intersected by deep valleys, provides con- 

 ditions which alternately retard and favour the 

 growth of trees ; while on the east, the existence 

 of large tracts of gently undulating or flat land, 

 at low elevations, would lead one to assume that 

 tree-growth would meet with more favourable 

 conditions than those prevailing in the hill 

 districts. 



When the geological and climatic features of 

 these two fairly distinct portions of the county 

 are studied, however, it is found that they have 



almost as much influence upon the existence of 

 trees as those arising from the elevation and con- 

 tours of the land. While the surface of the 

 western portions of the county is chiefly made 

 up of soils formed directly from the Millstone 

 Grit and other beds of the Carboniferous Series, 

 a large proportion of the low-lying land to the 

 east is entirely covered with a thick layer of 

 boulder clay. In the hill districts, again, the 

 climate, although bleak and cold in winter and 

 spring, is marked by a heavier summer rainfall 

 and more humid conditions than that of the 

 eastern sea-board, and although the western gales 

 are more severe in the high-lying districts, the 

 tendency of the ground to slope towards the east 

 renders the surface less exposed to their force 

 than on flat ground or slopes feeing the west. 

 The east of the county is often subjected to long 

 spells of dry and cold winds blowing off the 

 North Sea during late spring and early summer, 

 while the generally low level of the land and its 

 flat nature render late spring frosts of frequent 

 occurrence. 



The combined influence of the geological and 

 climatic conditions in these two portions of the 

 county upon the growth and development of 

 trees and plantations is fairly well-marked. In 

 the west, wherever the situation is comparatively 

 sheltered and the elevation not too great, species 

 which favour a fairly porous and well-drained 

 soil do better as a rule than in the east, where 

 the stiff, cold nature of the soil and the absence 

 of high grounds to serve as wind-breaks, render 

 the growth of almost all species very slow after 

 the first few years. The most favourable con- 

 ditions for tree-growth throughout the county 

 are found, as might be expected, in the river 

 valleys. The Derwent, the Wear, and the 

 Tees, with their numerous tributaries, not only 

 provide sheltered ground along their banks, but 

 the soil of the latter is usually much deeper, 

 more porous, and more favourable in many ways 

 for the growth of timber than the land between 

 which they flow, which is usually devoted to 

 agriculture and pasturage. 



At the present time the economic conditions 

 prevailing in various parts of the county also 

 indirectly affect the existence of woods, and in 

 some cases their growth. The extensive Dur- 

 ham coalfield, with its numerous collieries, 

 iron-works, and coke-ovens, not only causes a 

 more or less vitiated atmosphere, which injuri- 



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