424 Barry. Sylvan Vegetation of Fylingdales. 
There are also fragments of woodland in various parts of 
the parish which, though they have been cut, have evidently 
not been planted by man. 
INDIGENOUS TREES ‘OF THE EIRST CLASS: 
From an inspection of these fragments of natural wood, as 
well as of planted woods sufficiently old to have reached a semi- 
natural condition, it is evident that the indigenous timber trees 
of the first dimensions are only three in number ; viz., the Oak 
(Quercus pedunculata), the Ash (/raxinus excelsior), and that 
species of Elm which is called in the south the ‘ Wych,’ but 
here the ‘Wild’ or the ‘Rock’ Elm; botanically, of course, 
Ulmus montana. 
To allocate to each of these trees their respective shares 
in the aboriginal woodland is a somewhat difficult task. In 
regard, however, to 
The Elm (Udmus montana Stokes).—There can be no doubt 
that in the ravines and narrower dales it once occupied a more 
conspicuous position than it does to day. It must have con- 
tended along the sides of the becks with the Ash and the 
Alder, and monopolised in many places the lateral runlets ; 
and it must have again come to the front in rocky places. It 
must have been found, in fact, scattered everywhere at moderate 
altitudes. When the moorland region, however, is entered it 
suddenly fails. 
The Ash (fraxinus excelstor L.).—The same failure at the 
moor-edge occurs with the Ash. Lower down the valleys, and 
near running water, the Ash must, as has been seen, have been 
a competitor with the Elm, whilst on the north exposures of the 
ravines it may perhaps have been the prevailing tree of the 
woodland. 
The Oak (Quercus pedunculata Ehrh.).—The great extension 
of the Oak in this Dale is no doubt due, in large part, to arti- 
ficial planting. Even the old parts of the Ramsdale Woods, 
where the Oaks seem to be not less than two hundred and fifty 
years old, prove, on close examination, to be no exception, and 
were, doubtless, planted by Sir Hugh Cholmley in the reign of 
Charles I. 
At the same time the Oak was evidently plentiful by nature. 
Indeed, an examination of the old natural woods, of the hedge- 
rows, and of the Dale generally, shows that, in whatever pro- 
portion it stood, the Oak must have been absolutely ubiquitous; 
Naturalist, 
