In the same way, in the forests of Zeeland, the
fir forests are disappearing before the beech. Left to themselves, the
firs are soon displaced by the beech. The struggle between the latter
and the oak is longer and more stubborn, for the branches and foliage of
the oak are thicker, and offer much resistance to the passage of light.
The oak, also, has greater longevity; but, sooner or later, it too
succumbs, because it cannot develop in the shadow of the beech. The
earliest forests of Denmark were mainly composed of aspens, with which
the birch was apparently associated; gradually the soil was raised, and
the climate grew milder; then the fir came and formed large forests.
This tree ruled for centuries, and then ceded the first place to the
holm-oak, which is now giving way to the beech. Aspen, birch, fir, oak,
and beech appear to be the steps in the struggle for the survival of the
fittest among the forest-trees of Denmark.
It may be added that in the time of the Romans the beech was the
principal forest-tree of Denmark as it is now, while in the much earlier
bronze age, represented by the later remains found in the peat bogs,
there were no beech-trees, or very few, the oak being the prevailing
tree, while in the still earlier stone period the fir was the most
abundant.
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