350 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



a light sandy soil with a gravelly bottom. On our English chalk soils 

 the beech grows to perfection, instances of which I have found on the 

 Yorkshire wolds south from Malton. 



The Sycamore is another hardy tree. It is found growing from two 

 thousand five hundred to three thousand feet above sea-level in Switzer- 

 land. It thrives best in a light sandy loam, and lives to a great age. 

 There is one in the park near Scone Palace, Perthshire, which is said 

 to be upwards of three hundred years old, having been planted by 

 Queen Mary. 



The Maple delights in a free sandy loam, and I have found it grow- 

 ing well on very poor soils. 



T/ie Poplars are rapid-growing trees, and attain large dimensions when 

 found growing on soils suited to their nature. I lately valued black 

 Italian poplars growing on a light loamy soil of rather a moist descrip- 

 tion. The trees averaged sixty solid feet of wood, and were not over 

 forty years old. I have also met with them growing on light sandy 

 soils, where they arrived at a large size. 



There are some black Italian poplars now growing on the Lofthouse 

 estate, the property of the Earl of Zetland, on the Yorkshire coast, which 

 contain over sixty feet of timber in each tree, and they are not over 

 forty years of age. We have cut down coppice - wood of the black 

 Italian poplar which at ten years of age was thick enough to make 

 rails for fencing. It was growing from old stocks on a damp loamy 

 soil. . " 



There are some fine specimens of Lombardy poplar on the estate of 

 Myton Hall in Yorkshire, the seat of Major Stapylton. They are about 

 forty years old, and have attained a height of nearly sixty feet on an 

 average. The soil is a light loam, and moist. 



The Willow attains a considerable size when planted in a situation 

 agreeable to its nature, and this is in a loam, or sandy loam, with mois- 

 ture. A dry soil does not suit it well It grows well in any low-lying 

 sheltered situation where there is plenty of moisture. 



The Alder. This tree is usually found growing along the line of our 

 streams and rivers, and in wet swampy places. If the soil is poor, it 

 does not attain a large size ; but when found growing in a good loamy 

 soil, with plenty of moisture, it comes to considerable dimensions. It 

 grows naturally on almost any kind of soil, provided there is sufficient 

 moisture. Large numbers of this tree are found along the line of the old 

 coach-road from Perth to Inverness, and there we find them growing 

 generally in swampy places and along the edges of the rivers. 



The Horse-Chestnut. To grow this tree successfully it must be planted 

 in good rich loamy soil and in a sheltered situation. 



