Standard Beech Tree
Growing on comparatively poor soils where other species will not produce profitable timber the beech is particularly valuable on account of its reproducing itself freely from seed and withstanding a greater amount of shade than perhaps any other species. It associates well with the oak under cultivation.
The Sycamore for profitable planting can be recommended owing to the high price which can be obtained for timber of large size, though even when of thirty years’ growth it finds a ready market for bobbin making and other turnery purposes.
The most suitable soil for the sycamore is a dry sandy loam or even deep sand. The tree is peculiarly suitable for planting in exposed or seaside situations and also for standing alone as a field or hedgerow tree. The timber is white, smooth and free from grain. It is used for curtain rings, churns, butter prints, backs of violins, founders’ patterns, cutting boards, and in the making of wooden vessels and furniture. For calendar machines it is especially valuable.
The Sweet or Spanish Chestnut is largely cultivated for the value of the timber it produces. It thrives best on deep gravelly soil or on granite or sandstone with a dry subsoil, and with a southern or western exposure. The timber is of excellent quality and lasts well either in water or above or below ground. It is often substituted for that of the oak, and is extensively employed for mill timber, bridges, fencing of all kinds, posts, stakes, casks, and for hop poles.
The Spanish Chestnut is a tree of rapid growth and when the timber is of fair size it finds a ready market, though at a lower figure than that of the oak.
Unfortunately the timber produced on certain soils and situations is much reduced in value owing to cup shake.
Elm, both English and Scotch, are extensively planted for the value of timber produced.
The timber of the English elm is of a rich brown colour, hard, tough and usually twisted in the grain. Owing to the strength of its lateral fibre the timber is much in request for making blocks for ship’s riggings, while it furnishes naves for wheels, coffin boards, furniture, pumps, piles, and is employed largely by the wheelwright. For using under water it is the best wood cultivated in this country.
The wood of the Scotch or Wych elm is considered to be more valuable than that of the English species, and is used for similar purposes and also as a substitute for ash. It is very liable to become rotten at the core.
The Alder and its Uses.—Whether viewed from a strictly commercial standpoint, for its justly recognized capacity for thriving luxuriantly where few other trees could exist, or for its ornamental qualities, the common alder will be found to rank high among British forest trees. It usually attains to a height of from 50 ft. to 60 ft., with a stout, well branched trunk that is more or less gnarled and fluted. The branches have an upward inclination, and are well clothed with roundly wedge-shaped leaves that are of a deep, dark green colour. With age the bark usually assumes a dark brown, or almost black, colour. The alder is found in all parts of Europe, North Africa, and from Asia to Japan. For planting in wet, even swampy, situations, where only a very limited number of trees could eke out an existence, the alder is of particular value, and it is in such situations that it attains to the largest size and produces the greatest quantity of timber. Even in situations where the poplar and willow find a difficulty in battling with the excessive and stagnant moisture the alder thrives luxuriantly and reproduces itself freely from seed. As an ornamental tree the alder is not much in request, although the stately habit and ample deep-green foliage render it of value in that respect. The fine old specimens by the river and stream sides at Esher Place in Surrey, have a beauty that is quite their own, and it is in such tranquil situations that the tree is seen to perfection—the beauty of form and picturesque appearance causing it to be unrivalled in river and lake scenery. The tree is readily propagated and comparatively cheap in consequence, grows rapidly after becoming established, and is not subject to disease or premature decay.
Though soft, the timber of the alder is in much request, and in consequence numerous wants are supplied by it. It is very durable under water, and for this reason is largely employed for piles, bridge foundations, water pipes, and for lining the banks of rapid running streams and rivers. The celebrated bridge of the Rialto, at Venice, was, according to Evelyn, built on piles of alder wood, while the city of Ravenna was stated to have likewise been built on piles of the same wood. For herring barrel staves the wood is also in request, as it is for mill bobbins and turnery work. In cabinet work and for cheap furniture alder wood is largely used, while as it does not readily split, boards for the bottoms of carts and wheelbarrows are frequently made of the same wood.
The beautiful pale pink colour which the timber permanently retains causes knotty planks to be in great demand for veneering purposes.
In Wales, and throughout the Midland counties, large quantities of alder timber are consumed in the making of clog soles, which, after being roughly formed in the woodlands where the trees have been felled, are sent by rail to several of the Lancashire towns to be finished off. Throughout Ireland—chiefly the north—large numbers of clog soles, made of alder, are annually employed in the manufacture of cheap boots; indeed, in many parts the making of clogs is quite an industry.
The bark of the alder is used in tanning leather, though in much smaller quantities at present than was the case half a century ago, when oak bark fetched as much as £10 a ton, and when none of the chemicals that are now so commonly employed were offered in the market. Excellent gunpowder is made of the wood, said to be second only in quality to that prepared from the dogwood. The young shoots, according to the peculiar way in which they are prepared, are employed in dyeing red, brown, yellow, and black.
Alder is generally in good demand at all stages of its growth, and is seldom grown to very large dimensions. For the clogger, turner, or charcoal burner it is of greatest value up to about thirty years’ growth, while by cutting it over at that age a second crop springs rapidly from the stools.
The Birch.—It is hardly necessary to speak of the hardiness of the birch, for no other native tree, not even the Scotch pine, ascends to such elevations in Britain. The higher the tree ascends the more shrub-like it becomes, until on very exposed rocky sites at great altitudes it hardly exceeds a yard in height.
As regards soil, the birch is by no means particular, for we find it succeeding well even on that of a poor rocky or gravelly character. The largest individual specimens always, however, occur at not too high an altitude, and on soil of a light, loamy nature, an abundance of moisture being still further favourable to quick development. For planting on exposed ground for shelter-giving purposes, but particularly where the soil is thin and poor, the birch is a most valuable tree. Its growth is fairly rapid, and it does not suffer to any appreciable extent either from insect or fungoid attacks. As a coppice tree it is also valuable.
The timber of the birch, though of little value for general estate purposes, is largely employed in the arts and manufactures. It is much used for thread bobbins, turnery work, shoe pegs, hoops, and fish barrels, while it makes excellent firewood, and yields superior charcoal for smelting purposes. In Wales large quantities of birch wood are cut into clog soles, while the sabots used by the French peasantry are also made of that wood. When of large size and good figure, furniture and veneers are made of the wood, and on the Continent felloes for carriage wheels. Brooms and switches are made of the smaller branches or sprays, while the bark is used for tanning, and an oil expressed from it is employed in the preparation of the well-known and fragrant Russian leather.