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As is the case now with a great part of Canada, Norway, Sweden, the eastern shore of the Baltic, and some considerable tracts of the Highlands of Scotland, it is probable that, in very early ages, great part of Britain, with those islands towards the north, in which there is now hardly a shrub of any kind, were covered by pine forests. There has been much controversy amongst the learned whether the pine was indigenous to England. Cæsar expressly says that Britain had all the trees of Gaul, except the beech and fir. It is remarkable, however, that our names for the beech are derived from the Roman word fagus; but the fir has three names, which are purely British-this would seem to justify the conclusion, that the tree was not introduced by the Romans, but was originally British*. The fir is perpetually discovered in such of our mosses as were certainly prior to the time of the Romans; remains of the tree have been found, not only on the sides of Roman roads, but actually under them. But a more complete proof of the ancient existence of pine forests in England has been afforded by a minute examination of an extensive district called Hatfield Chase, in Yorkshire. This curious subject was investigated with great diligence by the Rev. A. de la Pryme, and the results of his researches were communicated to the Royal Society, in a paper published in their Transactions for 1701. Of this paper the following is the substance; and we have generally retained the author's own expressions.

"The famous levels of Hatfield Chase were the largest chase of red deer that King Charles the First had in England, containing in all above 180,000 acres of land, about half of which was yearly drowned by vast quantities of water. This being sold to one

* Whitaker's History of Manchester.

Sir Cornelius Vermuiden, a Dutchman, he at length effectually dischased, drained, and reduced it to constant arable and pasture grounds, with immense labour, and at the expense of above 400,000l. In the soil of all or most of these 180,000 acres of land, of which 90,000 were drained, even in the bottom of the river Ouse, and in the bottom of the adventitious soil of all Marshland, and round about by the skirts of the Lincolnshire Wolds, unto Gainsbury, Bawtry, Doncaster, Baln, Snaith, and Holden, are found vast multitudes of the roots and trunks of trees, of all sizes, great and small, and of most of the sorts which this island either formerly did, or at present does, produce; as fir, oak, birch, beech, yew, thorn, willow, ash, &c., the roots of all or most of which stand in the soil in their natural position, as thick as ever they could grow, as the trunks of most of them lie by their proper roots. Most of the large trees lie along about a yard from their roots (to which they evidently belonged, both by their situation and the sameness of the wood), with their tops commonly north-east, though, indeed, the smaller trees lie almost every way, across the former, some over, and others under them; a third part of all being pitch trees, or firs, some of which are thirty yards in length or upwards, and sold for masts and keels of ships. Oaks have been found, of twenty, thirty, and thirty-five yards long, yet wanting many yards at the small end; they are as black as ebony, and very durable in any service they are put to. It is very observable, and manifestly evident, that many of those trees of all sorts have been burnt, but especially the pitch or fir trees, some quite through, and some all on a side; some have been found chopped and squared, some bored, others half split, with large wooden wedges and stones in them, and broken axeheads, somewhat like sacrificing axes in shape; and all

this in such places and at such depths that they could never have been opened since the destruction of this forest till the time of the drainage. Near a large root, in the parish of Hatfield, we found eight or nine coins of some of the Roman emperors, but exceedingly consumed and defaced with time; and it is very observable, that on the confines of this low country, between Burningham and Brumby in Lincolnshire, are several great hills of loose sand, under which, as they are yearly worn and blown away, are discovered many roots of large firs, with the marks of the axe as fresh upon them as if they had been cut down only a few weeks. Hazel-nuts and acorns have frequently been found at the bottom of the soil of those levels and moors, and whole bushels of fir-tree apples, or cones, in large quantities together."

The author of this paper then goes on to shew that the Romans destroyed this immense forest, partly by cutting down the trees, and partly by burning them; and that these fallen trees dammed up the rivers, which, forming a lake, gave origin to the large turfmoors of that part of the country. The Romans themselves mention cutting down the British forests, as well for the purpose of making roads through the country, as to drive the natives out of their fastnesses.

In the peat-bogs of the bleakest districts of Scotland, the remains of pine-trees are very abundant; and such is their durability, in consequence of the quantity of turpentine they contain, that, where the birch is reduced to a pulp, and the oak cracks into splinters, as it dries, the heart of the pine remains fresh, and, embalmed in its own turpentine, is quite elastic, and used by the country people in place of candles. In England, too, subterraneous beds of pine have been found; and though, in consequence of the greater warmth of the climate, these contain less turpentine, and are more decayed, the remains of the cones, or

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seed-vessels, shew that they belong to the same species.

One of the most singular changes to which any country can be subjected, is that which arises from the formation of extensive masses of peat-earth. They are common in most of the colder parts of the world; and are known in Ireland (where they occupy nearly one-tenth of the surface) by the name of bogs, and in Scotland by the name of peat-mosses. These accumulations of a peculiar vegetable matter are a sort of natural chronicle of the countries in which they are found. In the northern parts of the island of Great Britain, and in many places of Ireland, especially in the central parts, between the Irish Sea and the Shannon, they point out that the soil and climate were once far superior to what the country now, in those situations, enjoys.

The era of the first commencement of these bogs is not known; but as in many of them, both in Ireland and Scotland, are found the horns and skulls of animals of which no live specimens now exist in the country, and have not been since the commencement of recorded history, their origin must be referred to very remote periods. Notwithstanding this, the formation of a peat-bog, under favourable circumstances, does not appear to be a very lengthened process; for George, Earl of Cromarty, mentions (Philosophical Transactions, No. 330) that near Loch Broaw, on the west of Rossshire, a considerable portion of ground had, between the years 1651 and 1699, been changed from a forest of barked and leafless pines, to a peat-moss or bog, in which the people were cutting turf for fuel.

The process, according to the Earl's description, which has been verified by the observations of others, is this:-The pines, after having stood for some time deprived of their bark, and bleaching in the rains,

which, in that country, are both heavy and frequent, are gradually rotted near their roots, and fall, generally, by the action of the south-west winds, which are the most violent in the British isles. After the trees have fallen, and have been soaked by the rains, they are soon covered by various species of fungi. When these begin to decay, the rain washes the adhesive matter into which they are reduced between the fallen tree and the ground, and a dam is thus formed which collects and contains the water. Whenever this takes place, the surface of the stagnant pool, or the moist earth, becomes green with mosses, and these mosses further retain the water. It is a property of those species of moss which grow most readily in cold and moist districts, to keep decomposing at the roots while they continue to grow vigorously at the tops. Cold and humidity, as has been said, are the circumstances in which the mosses that rot and consolidate into peat are formed; and when the mosses begin to grow, they have the power of augmenting those causes of their production. The mossy surface, from its spongy nature, and from the moisture with which it is covered, is one of the very worst conductors of heat; and thus, even in the warmest summers, the surface of moss is always comparatively cold. Besides the spongy part of the moss, which retains its fibrous texture for many years, there is a portion of it, and especially the small fungi and lichens with which it is mixed, that is every year reduced to the consistency of a very tough and retentive mould. That subsides, closes up the openings of the spongy roots of the moss, and renders the whole water-tight. The retention of the water is further favourable to the growth of the moss, both in itself, and by means of the additional cold which it produces in the summer.

The following account of the conversion of forests

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