The Woodlands of England. 
137 
Judging from the timber which is sometimes found buried under 
the peat ot the Pennines, it seems to be the case that the Scots 
pine (Pinus sylvestris) formerly occurred in the birchwoods of the 
north of England ; but as pine timber under the peat of this region 
is only seldom met with, and as birch timber is abundant in such 
situations, it seems equally clear that the primeval woods were 
dominated by the birch, and that the pine was never more than a 
local, or at most a locally abundant member of the prehistoric 
woods of the hills of northern England. While the present birch 
woods on the Pennines only ascend to about 1,250 feet, and even 
birch scrub only reaches about 1,500 feet, the buried birch stems 
indicate that formerly this tree reached an altitude of between 
1,700 and 1,800 feet. 
In the recent plantations on these hills, seedlings of pine from 
self-sown seeds, though they do occur, are not numerous ; and the 
species therefore does not seem to thrive here as it does on the 
drier heaths of southern and eastern England and of north-east 
Yorkshire. 
In central Scotland, woods dominated by the Scots pine occur; 
but they have not been examined ecologically, though Robert Smith 
has briefly described some primitive woods of birch and pine in 
Perthshire. 1 
III. —Beech and Ash Series. 
The woods of this series are found on calcareous soils, such as 
marl, chalk and limestone, where the lime-content of the soil is high. 
Within the series we may distinguish (A) an Ash-oakwood 
association (B) an Ashwood association and (C) a Beechwood 
association. 
(A) and (B) are the characteristic woodland types on all highly 
calcareous soils except those of the south-east of England, where 
the beech is dominant on the Chalk, beating the ash in competition 
owing to the much deeper shade which it casts. In parts of this 
district, however, the ash is important as a potential wood-former ; 
and, as on the Chalk of south-east Hampshire, ashwoods may be 
developed side by side with beechwoods, perhaps owing to extensive 
clearing of the latter. In the Isle of Wight, the beech does not 
appear to form natural woods; and there the calcareous soils of 
of the Chalk bear well-developed ashwoods. Westwards from 
Hampshire, through Dorset to the western limit of the Chalk in 
’ Botanical Survey of North Perthshire, Scottish Geogr. Mag., 
1901, 
