72 Nature protected 
growth of the timber. Hunting in 
the forest is not exactly allowed, but 
is tolerated in the northern part. Fish- 
ing in the ponds is also permitted. 
In the year 1883, Burnham Beeches, 
near Slough (figure 5), were bought for 
£yy62/^. They form a beautiful stretch 
of woodland, 375 acres in extent, grow- 
ing upon a moraine. In this natural 
forest, the beech is prominent, but oak, 
hornbeam, birch, hazel, holly, spurge 
laurel, willows, Scots pine, and juniper 
also occur. The beeches are in part very 
much deformed by having been lopped 
in former times. They are ten to twenty 
feet round, and I cannot remember 
having seen bigger ones anywhere. 
The trunks are for the most part 
hollow, and in some cases adventitious 
roots originate in the interior and go 
down into the soil. The oaks, too, 
attain a circumference of fifteen feet, 
and their old trunks are hollow. There 
