THE NEW FORESTRY. 93 



oak prefers a good deep soil, but will succeed and in time 

 become a very large tree in the poorest soils up to one 

 thousand feet elevation in Yorkshire. 



Ash, Common. Fraxinus excelsior. — A tall, quick-growing 

 tree, succeeding best in mixed woods, but becoming stunted 

 and bark-bound on poor, dry ground. It likes a fairly moist 

 soil and shelter. Ash timber is always in good demand, and 

 is saleable from. a small size at from ninepence to one shilling 

 per cubic foot; large butts fetching from one shilling and 

 sixpence to two shillings per foot. It comes very late into 

 leaf, casts little shade, and is a good plantation tree,, producing 

 a trunk of exceptional length,' free from breaks, sometimes 

 overtopping the oak. It may be under-planted with beech and 

 the common spruce, the two .best shade-bearers, and should be 

 planted out the first or second year from seed, as older plants 

 get bark-bound and are long in moving. 



Ash timber is becoming scarce in this country. More than 

 a hundred years ago Marshall lamented the want of foresight 

 among planters in not planting more ash in " close plantations," 

 considering the multitude of purposes for which the wood was 

 used and its value. One certain cause of the scarcity is the 

 destruction of the tree by rabbits, trees of all ages being barked 

 and killed. There is no tree so liable to be attacked by these 

 vermin as the ash, and they fatten upon the bark. The quality 

 of ash timber is much affected by situation. In warm, sheltered 

 situations it grows fast and is tough, while on cold northern 

 aspects it is " tender." We know woods on northern aspects 

 in which the quality of the ash is so well known to local con- 

 sumers that they will not buy it, while accepting readily that 

 growing on the south side of the hill under the same 

 conditions, excepting aspect. The texture of the wood can at 

 once be told on applying the woodman's scribe to the end of 

 the tree, and woodmen know the quality of ash timber as soon 

 as they apply the axe. 



Elm. Ulmus montana and Ulmus campestris. — Some 

 confusion exists among foresters and timber dealers concern- 

 ing these two elms, the first-named being supposed to be 

 common to Scotland and the latter to England ; whereas the 

 Scotch elm is, if anything, more extensively grown in mixed 

 i.woods in England than is the English elm, and some of the 

 oldest elm avenues in England are a mixture of the Scotch and 

 English varieties. The timber of the Scotch elm is preferred 

 to the other, is in greater demand, and fetches a higher price, 

 being tougher and often substituted for ash. The two kinds 



