Forestry  Exhibition  at  Gloucester. 
245 
With  regard  to  the  production  of  our  staple  hard  woods — 
oak,  ash,  elm,  and  heech — the  exhibits  in  Class  1°  from  nine 
competitors  showed  that  in  technical  quality  England  can 
supply  as  good  timber  of  these  species  as  any  part  of  the  world. 
The  Earl  of  Dudley  showed  two  oak  planks,  30  in.  wide,  which 
were  absolutely  flawless.  These  were  cut  from  the  butt  of  a 
tree,  140  years  old,  that  had  grown  in  a mixed  wood  of  oak, 
ash,  and  chestnut.  Earl  Beauchamp  showed  planks  nearly  as 
good,  26  in.  wide,  cut  from  an  oak  tree,  growing  in  heavy  clay 
land,  amidst  pasture.  The  supply  of  oak  of  the  first  class  is  a 
limited  one,  seeing  that  the  great  forests  of  Quercus  alba  in 
the  United  States  are  now  being  cut  to  a finish  ; and  the  oak 
woods  on  the  continent  of  Europe  will  probably  not  continue 
to  yield  in  the  future  much  for  export.  Oak  can  scarcely  be 
usually  recommended  as  a tree  to  plant  as  an  investment,  but 
there  is  a chance  that  where  it  can  be  grown  quickly  on  deep 
loam  it  may  give  at  no  distant  date  a handsome  return. 
While  there  may  be  some  doubt  as  to  the  advisability  of 
growing  oak  for  profit,  nothing  can  be  said  against  the  desira- 
bility of  planting  ash  in  suitable  situations,  and  of  encouraging 
the  growth  of  selected  ash  poles  in  mixed  woods.  The  ash 
shown  at  Glloucester  in  Class  1"  was  of  exceptionally  good 
quality  ; and  two  planks,  23  in.  in  width,  from  Witley  Court, 
were  quite  flawless.  These  were  cut  from  a tree,  seventy-five 
years  old,  grown  in  deep  moist  sandy  loam,  at  260  ft.  elevation, 
near  a stream,  in  mixture  with  oak,  chestnut,  and  beech.  Ash 
in  such  situations  grows  tall  and  straight,  producing  white  and 
clean  timber,  with  annual  rings,  varying  from  five  to  eight  per 
inch.  The  interesting  series  of  boards  of  different  species  of 
trees,  grown  on  different  soils,  from  Witley  Court,  shown  in 
Class  6“,  proved  that  in  similar  mixed  woods,  ash  is  quite  as 
good  on  clayey  loam  as  on  sandy  loam.  Where  the  soil  was 
stiff  clay,  the  trees  were  small  in  size  and  inclined  to  be  black- 
hearted at  an  early  age,  the  timber  being  inferior  in  quality 
and  much  slower  in  growth,  with  the  rings  about  seven  per 
inch  near  the  centre  and  eighteen  per  inch  on  the  outer  side. 
On  light  calcareous  and  light  dry  sandy  soils,  the  ash  was 
still  poorer  in  quality,  the  trees  becoming,  as  shown  by  the 
exhibits,  black-hearted  before  they  attained  sixty  years  of  age. 
On  light  sandy  soil,  at  600  ft.  elevation,  the  ash  remained 
stunted  and  was  badly  cankered. 
The  English  elm  is  usually  only  seen  in  hedge-rows  in  the 
south  of  England,  and  has  rarely  been  introduced  into  our 
woodlands.  A board,  32  in.  wide,  from  Witley  Court,  cut 
from  a tree  growing  in  a mixed  crop  of  oak  and  chestnut,  was 
remarkably  clean  and  free  from  knots,  and  superior  to  the 
hedge-row  elm  sent  by  the  other  exhibitors.  The  elm  is 
