Windsor Forest and Park. 711 



the land was of no use to nobody, and so he kep' it, and when 

 I married his daugliter I came to live in it." 



Silvanus Taylor, in his " Common Good," dedicated to Parliament 

 in 1652, when a sixth of the land was in common, gives the occupiers 

 of this kind of holding the very bad character which they no doubt 

 deserved. He advises division and allotment, adding quaintly, " Not 

 that the commoners would work men on their own allotments, for 

 while the parish has to maintain them they will not work." The 

 allotments to the Crown on the enclosure of Windsor Forest enabled 

 good old George III. to enjoy the luxury of farming his own land ; 

 and upon the same ground the Prince Consort afterwards established 

 the famous model farms which were noticed in the Windsor supplement 

 of the Gardeners Chronicle, October 31, 1874, and described in Mr. 

 J. C. Morton's " Report on the Koyal Farms," Agricultural Gazette, 

 1862. 



Between 1815 and 1822 roads were formed, and a portion of the 

 Crown allotments planted with oak on the heavy, and fir on the light 

 land, including 1,400 acres between Windsor and Ascot racecourse, 

 and 4,000 acres be3^ond the heath. The demolition of cottages, 

 according to the false exclusive taste of the time, tlirust all labourers 

 to a distance from the Castle, and, accordingly, they walked daily a 

 distance of from two miles to five miles to their work, till on her 

 Majesty's accession and marriage the Prince Consort, as Eanger, 

 devoted himself earnestly to this as well as other matters connected 

 with the improvement of the Crown property. At this time four 

 farm homesteads were erected, 2,000 acres of stiff clay land were 

 drained, a large school for workmen's children was erected, and has 

 since been supported by the Queen ; herds of shorthorns, Herefords, 

 and Devons were established, and, among the other great improve- 

 ments, Charles the Second's idea of joining park and castle was 

 carried out. H. E, 



SALE OF WOOD IN EOXBURGHSHIRE. 



At a public roup of wood, which took place at Pinnacle Hill, near Kelso, 

 on 29th December, 1877, the following prices were realized, most of the 

 trees being of large size and good quality ; but some of them, the larch 

 especially, being in very inaccessible places, detracted somewhat from their 

 value. On the whole the sale proved very satisfactory, considerino- che 

 difficult nature of the ground for removing the timber. Oak trees con- 

 taining from 40 ft. to 70 ft. cubic, brought from Is. 5d. to 2s. 3d, per 

 cubic foot. Large old ash sold at from Is. 4d, to Is, 9d,, and youno- ash 

 of fine quality at 2s. to 2s. 4d per cubic foot. Fine, clean, large larch 

 trees, containing 30 to 60 cubic feet each, realized Is, to Is. Q&. ; but they 

 would have brought much more if they had been near good roads. 



