360 Method of ascertaining the Value 



feet high and upwards, in Table VI. were allowed the space 

 or two acres instead of one, and, in consequence of their 

 standing thinner, were to increase annually only the fiftieth 

 part of an inch more in girt than they would do if they stood 

 on one acre, this small additional increase in girt would pay 

 an ample rent for the additional acre. 



In the year 1791 a paper of Observations on the Propa- 

 gation and Management of Oak Trees in general, but more 

 particularly applying to his majesty's New Forest in Hamp- 

 shire, was published by T. Nichols, Purveyor pf the Navy 

 for Portsmouth Dock-yard. 



In this paper it is said, that t{ there are to be seen in 

 many parts or' the forest from 40 to .50 fine oaks standing 

 on an acre, that will measure one with another two loads a 

 tree." 



" Several woods in the forest are almost ruined for want 

 of thinning, and its being done at proper times ; particularly 

 the inclosures that were made in the year 1 700 : — these were 

 originally well planted, and great numbers of trees brought 

 up in them, which now remain so close together that they 

 are nearly stagnated, particularly in Salisbury, Trench, 

 Brimley Coppice, and Woodfidley ; and although it is 90 

 years since they were planted, the trees will not measure, 

 one with another, above six or seven feet a tree ; whereas, 

 if the business of thinning had been done as it ought, the 

 remaining trees (after drawing much useful timber) would 

 by this time have been of a size nearly fit for naval uses, as 

 in sonae of the woods that were planted at the same time, 

 the trees which have had room to expand, and a free air ad- 

 mitted to them, will measure from 70 to 80 feet." 



Observations on the Croivth of Timber \ 

 The rings observable in the transverse section of a tree at 

 its butt-end, are the same in number as the years of its age; 

 an additional ring being produced annually, in consequence 

 of the annual rising of the sap. The rings are nearly con- 

 centric in trees that have grown in the interior of close shady 

 woods, but eccentric in others, being of different breadths 

 on the northern and southern sides of such as have grown 



single. 



