YOUNG TREES, ETC. 57 



traced to the fact, that at the time of their being 

 used, there was scarcely any other sort of oak in 

 the country but the rohur, or true sort, of which 

 sort the old beams consist. 



Few trees are more hardy than the oak ; it ac- 

 commodates itself to almost any soil or situation : 

 but, notwithstanding this vigour and hardihood of 

 nature, it will not develope itself to perfection 

 unless it have a good dry loamy soil, with some 

 shelter. The largest oaks that I have ever seen 

 grew upon a dry sandy loam, with a free exposure 

 to air ; however, although the oak may attain its 

 greatest dimensions under such circumstances as 

 these, we find it growing to the size of useful timber 

 wherever it has the advantage of a soil with a dry 

 bottom, and not too much exposed to storm — as for 

 instance upon the top of a bare hill. The oak will 

 not thrive nor hve long in a deep mossy soil. 



The Horse Chestnut {^sculus hippocastanum) 

 is a native of Asia, and upon account of the soft- 

 ness of its wood, is not much esteemed as a forest 

 tree ; it is, properly speaking, an ornamental lawn 

 tree, and should not, in my opinion, be planted in a 

 forest as a timber tree in this country. It requires 

 shelter and a good rich soil, under which conditions 

 it is an extremely rapid-growing and very orna- 

 mental tree. 



The Sweet Chestnut {Castanea vesca) is a 

 native of Britain, and grows to very large dimen- 



