BURNHAM BEECHES 63 
been removed to give a better view of the fine old beech from a 
neighbouring path — a reason partaking, to our minds, far too 
much of landscape gardening. At the same time, I would at 
the very outset protest against the notion put forward by the 
editor of the Spectator that in the conservation of such semi- 
primaeval woodlands it is practicably possible to act — or rather 
to desist from all action — according to the spirit of Lord Mel- 
bourne’s question, “Can’t you leave it alone?’’ The Corpora- 
tion have acquired — practically as a public trust — a lovely bit of 
woodland and heath, rich in its variety of trees, but specially 
celebrated for a small number of magnificent old pollards, chiefly 
beech. This beauty spot, being within reach of the metropolis, 
has become a holiday resort, and one cannot but be glad that 
Londoners should have such an object-lesson in the charms 
of true sylvan scenery. Its many picturesque aspects, but 
especially its larger trees, have at the same time naturally 
attracted many of our best landscape artists, one of whom, 
we have heard, has actually boasted that he has made, by 
pictures of Burnham Beeches, more money than the Corporation 
paid for the estate. If this area had been left to itself in the 
past, it would be an impenetrable thicket of crowded, worthless 
birch, hiding and smothering the old pollard beeches, and 
diversified only by quagmires or open heathy spaces cleared by 
accidental fires. Beautiful as is an isolated, well-grown birch, 
pleasing as is a group of fine trees of this species, such as that on 
the north side of the Middle Pond, it is the universal experience 
of foresters all over Europe that the birch requires keeping 
in check or it will prove destructive to other species. The 
shallowness of the soil at Burnham Beeches apparently limits 
the life of the birch. There are no very large or old trees, few 
much exceeding a foot in diameter, and many of the largest are 
dead or largely rotten, riddled with the holes of the woodpecker 
and protruding many a large specimen of the shelf-fungus [Poly- 
porus). Many of the stumps of birches recently felled proved, on 
examination, to be thus rotten. At the same time, no species of 
tree sows itself more readily, springs up sooner after a forest fire, 
or holds its own better against heather or bracken, while not 
many broad-leaved trees are more rapid in their growth. We 
saw several birch groups which were thinned sixteen or twenty 
years ago, and which were certainly more beautiful now than 
they would have been had there been twice as many trees to the 
acre. On the other hand, we noticed at least two spots, one 
south-west of the Middle Pond and the other towards Hardi- 
canute’s Camp, which have not been touched in the recent 
operations, and which would be all the better if the trees were 
reduced by a half. 
Besides the old beeches, there are several grand oaks, whilst, 
as is so generally true in all our indigenous woodlands, such as 
the New Forest, the Forests of Dean and Kingswood, and 
Theydon Garnon, adjoining Epping, the holly not only forms 
