846 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



more valuable it is, the young hop shoots, according to Cobbett, disliking a thick pole 

 to twine round. 



At Welbeck the chestnut is considered by Mr. Michie,^ forester to the Duke 

 of Portland, to be the most profitable tree to grow on sandy soil, as it grows 

 much faster than oak and realises about is. 2d. per foot at a much earlier period. 

 He showed me a plantation on Tressless Hill thirty-eight years old in 1903, in which 

 the trees averaged about 65 feet high by 3 feet in girth, and stood about 150 to 

 the acre. He said that they should not be grown without underwood, because in 

 severe winters the unprotected trunks were liable to be cracked by frost near the 

 ground.^ 



We have no exact records of the amount of timber per acre that may be produced 

 by the chestnut when grown for timber in England, but I think that in the south on 

 good land it would probably be greater than that of any other tree. One very 

 remarkable case is a grove of 34 chestnuts and 9 oaks by the drive leading to 

 Bicton House, Devonshire, which average about 100 feet high, by 6 to 7 feet in 

 girth in the middle of the grove, and 9 to 12 feet on the outside (Plate 232). 

 I estimated that this area was about half an acre, and the cubic contents of the 

 timber on it about 5000 feet. At my request the late Mr. Mark Rolle had it care- 

 fully measured and wrote me on December 19, 1903, that the exact area on which 

 the trunks stood was i rood 32 poles, though, of course, the branches extended 

 over much more. The cubic contents were 7300 feet and the age of the trees 

 about 150 years. We may therefore take at least 10,000 feet per acre as the result 

 here. 



Another very striking instance of the same character is a grove called " The 

 Chestnut Tole- in Mr. Ashley Dodd's park at Godinton, Kent, where a great 

 number of fine trees, having clean boles of 50 to 70 feet high by 8 to 10 feet in girth 

 grow mixed with ash. One of the chestnut trees was 86 feet to the point where the 

 branches began, and I think that the timber in this grove would produce as great 



' Mr. Michie has sent the following note •— 



find 2rs:Ts\L'"Zt'T^''e^^^^^^ '-^^' ^-^-fi- *° «'y-fi- years of age, as I 



seed. Atoneyearold I ft he Iffinrshor en r'r "'"'"^ """ """ ''°'" ^°"°^' ^ °'^'' '--' - than foreign 

 fresh, sweet Jl, as the ro t is ver^ liable to Ilfo' V°°^ "' ^''"' "" """^^ ""=^- ^"^ "-' "^ ''^'^^^ ^o plant 1^ 

 them down to within one inch of fte ground wh h wT" '".r"'''^' "'*' '^"'^ '"^""^^- ^" '"^^ ^°"°-^ 5-" -' 

 Sfeetlong; after which, at three years TdtL can T ,7^' *'" '° *'^°" °"' '^ ^'-"g ^^ ^'^^^^ ^'^m from 2 to 

 out, they generally require cutting off co^ to the surf" ^ v f °"' ""' =^'^'y- ^^'•^°"* '^^ '--'--"* before planting 

 grass,^ bracken, etc., which smoth'ers the young shootf' "' " °°' ^'"^^^ "^"^^^^^^ '" '•^^ P'-'^-i --> "wing to rank 



possible, especially on the outsidTs'ofVaSionTto'orrvTnt^'rolH '^'^"l"^' ^""'. ^^^ ^°=°"^^ng °f ^s much undergrowth as 

 the trees should stand no more than l6 te apar" ZJ^ , °''^ ^'"'^^ "^'"^'"S '''^"g^- ^' '^^ r^^^ °f ^= 



^^''TSo^lTZt^' ^'' "• ^-^^^'^^^^^^^^ '"■ '"' ''''"' *^'" ^' *^ '°" ^^"^^^ °^^° 



in Birklands Wrra'^oininrrdirFU'fUie Thfsnn f ""'" ^^'"^ for ordinary agricultural purposes; for instance, 

 acres, although from sixty to eighty years of aS I e Jonr h TY^""^^ '""^ "^^'' °^^' '=°'"'"e an area of about lOO 

 feet of timber each ; whereas some Spanish dfeluts IntTd ^ t'' "' '^°"'"" °" ^" ^^"^^ "°' »"^ '>^- ^ cubic 

 timber as the oaks. ^ '''''""''' P'"°'^<^ ^^^^ *an sixty years ago, contain fully eight times as much 



buildfn;;t."'¥L?e:mrrS^^^^ of fencing; also for window-sills of farm 



threshing machines, for coffin boards, etc. The timbe should b 'f ^f^'™,'''? •^^"'''-' ^'-). »d also to put in the inside of 



^ The ^me thing has occurred It Kew ; and as Sir W TV t" 'n *°""^"^ '"^"^ ''^^"'^ ^""^ -^^^ 

 and are the result of too rapid thawing by the sun' h.selton-Dyer pointed out, the cracks occur on the south side, 



