152 



ARE SOILS E^'RICHED, DIPOTERISHED, pt. irr. 



tlieii' beauty. Cold, smooth-barked trees, like beech, 

 drip from condeusatioii much more than others. Yet 

 I know not wliy the pure water of heaven, Avhen con- 

 densed by such an alembic, should not nourish rather 

 than destroy the growth it falls on. If drip is poison- 

 ous, as is commonly believed, it should choke, not feed, 

 Eoget's circle of capillary stomata ; and I cannot 

 attribute the deleterious quality of the overgrowth of 

 beech to anything but its gTeater density of shade. 

 Pliysiologists, indeed, (if we include the poison of the 

 drip) arm this beautiful gem of the chalk with a triple 

 poisoning power. For, while they do not except it 

 from the general ]}ower of poisoning itself, inherent, 

 according to them, in the roots of all vegetables, they 

 give the excretions of the roots of the beech the parti- 

 cular power to poison all other vegetation whatever, 

 except the holly; while, mirahile cUc^u !^ to the holly 

 these poisonous excretions are Avliolesome food. But 

 that the beautiful nakedness beneath the beech is not 

 caused by its poisoning the ground, is apparent from 

 the fact, that when the sliade is removed, that is, when 

 the beech woods are felled and the ground re-planted 

 directly, all sorts of trees grow on it luxuriantly, even 

 when the roots of the beech have not been grubbed. 

 Yet, on the supposition that roots excrete, the ground 

 must liave been saturated witli tliese excretions for 

 centuries, perhaps for many thousands of years. This 

 fact may be seen exemphfied at this present moment 

 (IS 5 3) in Lipping wood and West wood, in the neigh- 



