BURNHAM BEECHES. 



557 



BURNHAM BEECHES. 



[At the request of the Right Hon. the Lord Mayor and the 

 Corporation of the City of London the Council on August 20, 1907, 

 appointed a small Committee to examine and report upon the condition 

 of the trees at Burnham Beeches. The Committee devoted considerable 

 attention to the matter, and in September issued their report to the 

 Corporation, a copy of which is given below.] 



The Royal Horticultural Society, 



Vincent Square, Westminster: 



September 5, 1907. 



Beport on the Beeches at Burnham. 



In pursuance of a request contained in two letters from Mr. Thomas 

 Harvey Hull, dated August 16 and 29, 1907, on behalf of the Corporation 

 of the City of London, requesting the Royal Horticultural Society to 

 appoint a small Committee of Experts to visit the Burnham Beeches 

 and advise, the President and Council of the Society had much pleasure 

 in acceding to such request, and appointed Mr. F. J. Chittenden, Director 

 of the Society's Laboratory at Wisley and Secretary of the Scientific 

 Committee ; Mr. A. D. Webster, Superintendent of Regent's Park, a 

 skilled expert in trees ; Mr. Harry J. Veitch, who has had as varied and 

 widespread experience in such matters as any man in the kingdom ; and 

 the Rev. W. Wilks, M.A., Secretary of the Society, who has for the last 

 ten years been drawing special attention to the disease in beeches. 



These four gentlemen visited the Beeches on Thursday, September 5, 

 and report as follows : — 



Roughly speaking the whole of the trees are attacked by an insect 

 known as Cryptococcus fagi, some only slightly, others very badly, and 

 that without any apparent reference to the age of the trees, some of the 

 younger ones being more affected than some of the older. 



At " Wheeler's Corner " is a very bad example, the comparatively 

 young growths of a spreading tree being densely covered with the insects, 

 and the quite young trees near by being almost invariably affected more 

 or less. 



In "Egypt" all the old trees are affected, but most of them only 

 moderately. In the "Victoria Drive" the old pollarded trees are almost 

 invariably, but slightly, whilst many of the younger ones are badly 

 stricken. 



We are of opinion , that the greater thickness and rugosity of the 

 bark is the reason of the comparatively fewer insects living on the older 

 trees, it being only in the cracks in the bark that the insects can in 

 these old specimens obtain the juices of the tree on which they live. 

 No argument, therefore, can be based on the fact that the densest insect 

 papulation is found on the younger trees. 



The Committee ordered one of the younger trees to be dug up in 

 order that they might examine its roots and the soil about them. This 



