237 



rathera close wood of Oaks, with silvery 

 stems rising out of a sea of Primroses and 

 Ladies' Smocks, and he said to me then, 

 " How vain is our gardening, compared 

 with such effects as this," and this was in 

 a wood wholly kept for use and profit. 

 When we come to general effects, the 

 natural and the planted forest are about 

 the same in value, as maybe seen in cen- 

 tral Germany and Bohemia, where the 

 woods planted for use add much to the 

 beauty of the country. It does not follow 

 that because some foresters space their 

 trees at equal distances that such setting 

 out is necessary. In the forests of the 

 mountains of Europe and America re- 

 gularity is no part of Nature's plan, the 

 trees coming in groups and often of vast 

 size. There are lessons also in this way 

 in many a natural forest, where I have 

 often seen Pines only a few feet apart, 

 yet splendid in size and stature. There 

 is much to show us both in French and 

 German forests— some quite near us, 

 too, as in Normandy — that their tree 

 beauty, although distinct from that of 

 the trees in park or chase, is none the 

 less precious. In her distribution of trees 

 Nature has the free and varied hand of 

 the true artist, working without formu- 

 lae. Her trees are in garlands, groups, 

 masses, and forests, and varied in a thou- 

 sand ways. As to close massing of trees, 

 no forest planted by the most utilitarian 

 of German foresters is more closely set 

 than the Evergreen Oak woods in North 

 Africa — a country so arid that Euro- 

 peans cannot endure the mid-day heat 

 — but here and there where encamp- 

 ments, or water, or other cause leads to 

 openings, the beauty of the forest is often 



great. As to ornamental trees, there is 

 nothing in any pleasure garden or shrub- 

 bery so fine as the effects we may see in 

 forests, both natural and artificial, treated 

 as both may be from the forestry point 

 of view ; therefore, instead of drawing 

 doubtful distinctions we should try and 

 show the harmony and unity which exist 



j in all planting. Nor is it always a ques- 

 tion of planting young trees in regular 

 order, because upon an immense area of 

 the forest land of theworlditis often one 



! of renewing old woods which are mixed 

 as to ages, kinds, and habits, preventing 

 any such stiff setting-out as occurs in 

 young plantations. As to the beauty of 



I the isolated Oaks in the parks and chases 



I of England and in many country seats, 

 it is well to notice that in soils of a dry 

 nature, where the trees are set in the 

 grass as they are in such cases, they suffer 

 in dry years; so that in great parks like 

 Bagot, after a number of such years, we 

 may see their upper parts more dead than 

 alive. That condition cannot occur in 

 the close forest planting which keeps 



| away the grass. In such cases the trees 

 themselves form a mulch which protects 

 the ground from the evil results of hot 

 seasons. 



Since writing the first article upon 

 the Oak, the following has come to me 

 from one of the most experienced tim- 

 ber surveyors of the Oak-wooded coun- 

 try south of London : — " In most Oak 

 woods which are sheltered from south- 

 west winds, the young trees (i.e., up to 

 i o feet cube) would increase from 5 to 

 71 per cent, in the year. Trees from 10 

 to 20 feet cube about 5 per cent., and 

 I larger trees not so much — the youngest 



