THE NEED OF AFFORESTATION IN THE 



UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN 



AND IRELAND 



By a. D. BLASCHECK, F.C.H. 



Deputy Consei-vaior of Forests, Indiafi Forest Service 



PART I 



A NATURAL preliminary to the consideration of the question ot 

 extending forestry in Great Britain and Ireland is a brief study 

 of the history of the forests which have existed hitherto. 



In the time of the Romans Britain was densely wooded, Caesar 

 describing the ancient Britons as a true forest people. Under 

 later Saxon rule more careful cultivation began to replace the 

 chase as a means of subsistence, and led to more extensive 

 clearances and their protection from wild beasts. It was only 

 another step for forest areas to be reserved for the ruling 

 classes. 



Game laws existed in the times of the Saxons and Danes, 

 although the first reputed regular statute is the Norman forgery 

 known as the Charter of Canute, said to have been granted in 

 1018. Unenclosed land was appropriated to the King, and the 

 law was manipulated to convey an exclusive right of chase to 

 the King and those authorised by him. Great oppression was 

 exercised in the name of this law, not only in the areas pre- 

 viously reserved, but over large tracts which were newly placed 

 under ban : an instance was the New Forest, formed in 1079, an 

 action which must have been most ruthless, even if the accounts 

 are not fully credited. All this was done under the supposed 

 law of Canute, and it was not until the Assize of Woodstock 

 (1184) that the first genuine Forest Law was enacted. The 

 most cruel punishments were enforced for offences which now 

 seem trivial, and it appears that the administration of Forest 

 Law was not without influence in bringing about the Magna 

 Carta, 1215. 



The Carta de Foresta followed ten years later, and it is 



611 



