Present Condition of Woodlcmds 71 



Yorkshire, and much of the Midlands are however very- 

 poor in woods, and this is no doubt connected with the 

 fact that these parts of the country have the greatest 

 proportion of agricultural land (see p. 28). The apparently 

 well- wooded character of the Midlands, as seen for instance 

 in passing through the country by train, is due entirely to 

 the large number of trees in the hedgerows separating 

 the comparatively small fields into which the prevailing 

 pasture land is divided. Seen from a distance the trees 

 and hedges blend and give an entirely false impression 

 of woodland. 



We may now summarise the existing natural and semi- 

 natural vegetation of the country classified according to 

 the physiognomy of the landscape it determines, rather 

 than according to the natural plant-formations dealt with 

 in the sequel. 



1. The existing woodland is very restricted in area 

 as compared with that of most continental 

 countries (excepting the regions bordering 

 the Atlantic, the English Channel and the North Sea, 

 which are also very poor in woodland) ; but that which 

 still remains represents for the most part the more or less 

 modified remnants of the primitive forests which once 

 covered most of the country. There is very little un- 

 touched primitive forest left, but some of the remoter 

 hill woods, e.g. on the Pennines and in Scotland, may be 

 regarded as practically primitive forest. Most of the 

 woods of the country, at any rate of England, are how- 

 ever to be regarded as semi-natural woods, retaining the 

 essential characters and the flora of the primitive woods 

 from which they are derived. The majority of the woods 

 of southern England, treated as coppice-with-standards, 

 a very old form of exploitation, are at the present time 

 mostly uneconomical and are often badly neglected. The 

 best forestry is to be seen in the north of England, in 

 Scotland, and in the Chiltern beech forests. 



