The Planting of Conifers
Those who have so energetically opposed the planting of conifers in Lakeland and in other districts already rich in natural beauty may like to hear of one district, at least, where
the large-scale planting of larch has done something to cover up the desolation of a countryside that, even in its pristine stage, never crept into the guide books. The rich iron ore deposits of the Welland and Nene valleys, in Northampton- shire, are now being worked at increasing pressure. The immediate result of the Welland scheme has been to slap down on a piece of the greenest landscape in England a new town, almost completely Scottish, of io,000 people. The results of the Nene schemes have accumulated far more slowly. Earth deposits, unlevelled, have gradually piled up into a hideous system of clay-coloured alps that stand out raw and dead from a country that has never been rich in trees. These alps are now being planted with conifers. If they survive the effect will be rather like the planting down, on a small scale, of a section of the Black Forest. The word black may be more appropriate than it seems. This valley is reported, and has been reported for fifty years, to be rich in coal.
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