A Popular Tree
Encouraged by a not ungenerous increase of grants for afforestation, more owners are "dedicating" their woodlands to national service. The movement is goad ; but it is to be hoped it will not produce an excess of conifers. Many broad-leaved deciduous trees are in short demand ; among them the sycamore, which is singularly successful, if allowed, in self-afforestation. The wood has most of the virtues. It is very amenable, and yet when used for panels, hair-brush backs and even fiddles is singu- larly hard. Included in ardent admirers of the tree are bee-keepers, some of whom are coming to regard it as not less valuable, though at a different date, than the lime. At the demand of makers of aeroplanes, some bits of the scenery of the New Forest were quite changed by the planting of ash trees (how Cobbett would have rejoiced!). Has any afforestcr ever answered the demands of the many and various enthusiasts for sycamore ?
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