14 JANUARY 1928, Page 13

A POINT OF OWNERSHIP.

Some curious legal points of ownership arise when trees fall ; and not all landowners appreciate their responsibility. One of the quaintest decisions as to rights in the timber is that if the wood is rotten it is the property of the tenant, if he likes to collect it ; but if it is sound lumber it belongs to the land- owner. Oak, ash, and elm are technically regarded as timber in this reference in all counties ; but other trees are added in certain counties : the beech, for example, in Bucks, and the birch in Berks, as a writer in the Estate Book of the County Gentlemen's Association has recently reminded us.