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FLORA AND SYLVA. 



The Rev. C. Wolley Dod. — We regret to I 

 announce the death of the Rev. C. Wolley Dod 

 of Edge Hall — scholar, a master at Eton, and 

 a good gardener. As an able writer upon all 

 matters related to gardening he was a valued \ 

 contributor to the papers devoted to plants, 

 being one who understood the cultivation of 

 hardy northern plants as few others have 

 done, making them very happy in his garden 

 at Edge Hall. 



TREES AS SOIL-MAKERS. 



Lately we dealt with the great waste in 

 planting, due to the supposed need of 

 costly drainage, trenching, deep dig- 

 ging, and other heavy labours which are 

 quite needless to secure the growth of 

 forest trees. To the pleasure-ground 

 planter I am aware that these ideas will 

 seem madness ; he considers all such 

 costly work essential to the success of 

 his shrubbery. From his own point of 

 view, which is to get a rapid growth in 

 the rampant growers that he usually 

 plants, this may be right ; but where is 

 the shrubbery that can show as good a 

 growth as many a woodland or forest ? 

 It does not exist. Pursuing the same ideas 

 we wish now to show how well trees will 

 often grow in abandoned scoriae, mine- 

 rubbish, and other hopeless and ugly 

 earth surfaces. My first lesson in this way 

 was in the foot-hills of Nevada Coun- 

 ty, California, where goldseekers had 

 washed away the whole surface for over 

 20 feet in depth, and there I saw vigor- 

 ous young Pines growing out of the bare 

 surface in fine health. I have had many 

 such a lesson since. But the planter of 

 such surfaces must look a little to kinds 

 and their habits as well as to soil. In the 

 planting of lands of no "quality" or 

 awkward situation the kind of tree is 

 important, as each has its preferences, 



and though many hardy trees will grow 

 in almost any situation, it by no means 

 follows that we get good timber from 

 them. Oak, Ash, and nearly every hard- 

 wood tree will grow almost anywhere, 

 and never be worth cutting, Oak being 

 very much afTected by the quality of the 

 land, and even where it grows well often 

 not being nearly as good timber as that 

 grown less vigorously. Spruce on a wet 

 western hillside will make growth such 

 as we never see in southern Britain, and 

 our quick-grown Scotch Fir is never 

 half so valuable for timber as the same 

 tree from the poor mountains of western 

 Europe. Rainfall also has much effect 

 on trees, and also elevated situations ; 

 in such we might venture to plant trees 

 which would be started too early by the 

 milder climate of the south. If rightly 

 planted in close order when young, 

 trees make their own soil, and often a 

 fine soil it is. In the wood we need no 

 manure cart, and in the hottest years 

 the trees maintain their freshness. Vast 

 areas of European mountains areco vered 

 with Pines, while there is scarcely a trace 

 of soil over the ribs of the mountain. 

 Hence, those who are now seeking to 

 plant with a garland of trees the hideous 

 refuse heaps of the Black Country are 

 right in their efforts and will succeed. 

 However poor the land may be when 

 the trees are first planted, the annual 

 layers of fallen leaves soonform a deposit 

 of black mould, between which and the 

 natural soil the roots of the trees are al- 

 ways found in great numbers; the older 

 the wood the deeper the leaf soil. In old 

 Beech and other forests it is extraordi- 

 nary to what an extent this leaf-mould 

 has accumulated. If it were not for it, 



