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Trees Are Tremendous
28 September is National Tree Day — not that I need any excuse to enjoy trees.
When I was a child my uncle next door was a timber merchant and owned his own woods which we played in a lot. There were a lot of trees in the valley on the edge of Exmoor. We climbed on them, swung from them, built shelters out of wood, ate some of their fruit, took shelter from hot sun under them. They were home to a rookery and many other birds. They prevented the stream from getting too hot for the fish in summer.
This time of year, acorns keep falling on my head and my roof. Sometimes I think I should get a hard hat for when I go out the door. Ash leaves are already falling, and oak leaves and others won’t be far behind. I’ll have a lot to rake up and compost, and gutters to clear. During the peak of summer, they kept the house from getting too hot. The hazel trees produced nuts, but as usual the squirrels beat me to them.
We find trees useful
Mankind has been using trees for fuel ever since the discovery of fire. And as well as burning branches, we have burnt coal (ancient trees, etc.), and charcoal (wood partially burned with little air). Without this, the industrial revolution would never have taken place as we used it to drive steam engines, firstly in mines and later in factories, on farms and for transport. While oil was used…