Amongst the several hundred species of trees that are cultivated in this country it is a remarkable fact that less than twenty can be recommended for profitable planting. Of course many others are valuable as shade and shelter producers, but from a strictly economic point of view, that is to say where the value of the timber is a point of first consideration, only about ten hard-wooded and eight coniferous species can be included in the list. Amongst hardwoods we have the oak, ash, beech, sycamore, elm, Spanish chestnut, willow, poplar, alder and birch; while coniferous trees would include the larch, Scotch and Corsican pines, common and Sitka spruce, silver and Douglas firs, and possibly the giant Arborvitæ and Weymouth pine. The =Oak=.—Than the timber of the oak none other produced in this country is more lasting or valuable—indeed, in few other trees are the qualities of strength and durability, hardness and elasticity combined to such an extent. As might be expected, however, the value of oak timber is greatly influenced by soil, that produced on deep, heavy loam or clay lands being of superior quality. The colour of the wood also varies greatly with age from a dark grey to a deep rich brown and even green. Brown oak, which is almost confined to the Midland counties of England, is considered to be wood in the first stage of decay, and attacked by a fungus, and is generally associated with trees that are long past their prime and whose larger limbs have become hollowed and unhealthy. The finest examples I have seen of brown oak were produced at Ampthill in Bedfordshire, and on the Welbeck Estate in Notts. The beautiful vivid green colour assumed by oak timber under certain conditions is due to the action of the fungus _Peziza æruginosa_. As this colouring matter in the timber is quite permanent and cannot be destroyed, wood so affected is eagerly bought up by the makers of fancy furniture. Unhealthy or dead trees in damp shady positions are most often attacked by the fungus, and we have known timber of the oak when left lying about in the woodlands to assume this colour. Owing to the scarcity and value of green oak timber experiments have been undertaken to produce the colouring by artificial means, but as far as we are aware the results were not satisfactory. The best examples of green oak timber that we have seen were produced in Kent, and in the North of Ireland. The =Ash=.—When viewed in a purely economic sense the ash must, next to the oak, be considered as our most valuable forest tree. The massive, deeply fluted, or cylindrical trunk, the weighty swelling branches, and the usually pendant masses of the freshest pea-green foliage, all combine to render this tree one of the most majestic for ornamental planting, but particularly so when associated with others that are of a darker shade of green. The ash is indigenous to Europe, Northern Africa, and North America, while throughout the British Isles it is widely dispersed.