MIXED WOODS 151 



species ; for this reason, mixed woods occur more often than 

 pure woods. Schools within reach of the Forest of Dean have a 

 Nature-Study lesson at their very doors. Up to the end of the 

 eighteenth century, as history records, this forest consisted of a 

 mixed crop of oak and beech, in the proportion of one oak to two 

 beeches ; the oaks were renowned for their size, and for the first- 

 rate timber they produced. During the last century the forest 

 was thinned excessively. On these cleared areas fresh oaks 

 were planted, and apparently protected for a time ; but there was 

 no underplanting with beech, and the forest was thrown open 

 unreservedly for grazing purposes. The result is, that the young 

 oaks are low of stature, and can never equal those of former days ; 

 the boles are short, for the branches begin very low down; the 

 timber is bound to be poor. The want of underplanting with 

 some tree like the beech, which, owing to its dense foliage, would 

 have enriched the soil with fertile leaf-mould, and would have 

 protected it from too great evaporation, combined with over- 

 thinning, and the injury done to the young trees through un- 

 restricted grazing, account for the condition of this forest. 

 Under the present management there is underplanting with 

 beech, and gaps are being filled up with other trees, such as 

 sycamore, ash, and larch. 



Larch used to be extensively planted in pure woods, and 

 there is hardly a part of the country where plantations of young 

 larch trees are not to be seen. At the present time larch is being 

 underplanted with beech, silver fir, or spruce, in order to prevent 

 larch disease spreading through whole woods. 



MIXED WOODS 



Oak and beech are peculiarly adapted to each other ; the oak 

 has a deep-rooted system, the beech a shallow one ; the beech has 

 dense foliage, the oak an open canopy; the rapidity of growth, 

 and the dense shade of the beech has the effect of forcing the 

 upward growth of the oak, the lower branches are killed off, and 

 long, straight, clean boles are formed. The only danger is that the 

 beech may oust the oak, but this can be averted by appropriate 

 thinnings, or by giving the oak, which is a much slower growing 



