THE MANAGEMENT OF EPPING FOREST. 6l 



done to excess or not, that the picturesque and natural appearance of our Forest 

 is the sole object which has been heldnn view. 



From what I have seen, and for whatever my opinion may be worth, I join 

 issue with those who assert that the present policy is destructive of confidence in 

 the existing management. Pending the official report of the experts who have 

 been appointed by the Committee, I appeal to the statements of the Editor of 

 "The Gardener's Magazine," whose opinions are trebly valuable — first, as an ex- 

 pert ; secondly, as one of the few fair and temperate critics of the recent operations ; 

 and, lastl}', because he is in some measure a hostile witness. He says with 

 respect to thinning : " The work in Great Monk Wood, Hawk Wood, and Lord's 

 Bushes was entered upon with the object of giving more room for promising 

 young trees and fine old pollards in those parts of the Forest, and a more laud- 

 able object in connection with foreit management could not well be conceived. 

 It is of course desirable that j-oung trees should enjoy the light and air essential 

 to the formation of stout shapely trunks, and that old pollards should have the 

 space required for the free extension of their branches. There cannot be two 

 i opinions upon these points among those who have devoted any considerable share 

 of their attention to arboricultural matters, and to discuss them is therefore un- 

 necessary." Again : " A considerable amount of thinning has been done on the 

 opposite side of Theydon Bois Road, and although a few more trees may have 

 ! been removed than was required, the thinning is, for some distance northward, 

 highly judicious. The opening out of the track in the Forest from the Theydon 

 Bois Road is a decided improvement, and I should like to see some further 

 thinning at this point." And again : " It will have been gathered from what I 

 have alread}' said that I regard judicious thinning as essential to the proper 

 management of woodlands, and if my views upon what has been done are not in 

 exact accordance with those responsible for the thinning, it must be understood 

 that my object is not to raise an outcry against the removal of a tree, or, indeed, 

 a stick of wood, however ill-placed."* 



Indeed, when the elements of this controversy come to be resolved into their 

 ultimate constituents, I think we shall find that differences of opinion will re- 

 I solve themselves largely into matters of individual taste. It is precisely upon 

 such points that it is most difficult to arrive at any unanimity. In going over 

 the districts now cleared or marked for thinning I have seen some cases to 

 which I should demur. But when it comes to such questions as to whether one 

 tree should have been felled in preference to another, whether one particular 

 group should have been left intact and another group thinned, whether a view 

 should ba opened out in one direction rather than another, or whether the view 

 should remain permanently shut out by a dense wall of foliage — then I say we are 

 dealing with individual tastes, upon which no two of you in this room would be in 

 absolute agieement ; and if you are going to appeal to the public for decision we 

 shjuld have a pretty mess of a forest in a very short time. I dissent most 

 strongly from the statement of one of our members in " TheTimes," (.April 3rd), 

 who says : " I contend it is purely a question for the publfc." It might as well be 

 maintained that when a difference of opinion exists between medical experts as 



6 An eminent botanist and authority on arboriculiure writes with reference to the dislike 

 shown lo the cutting down of trees : " It is a fatal mistake. I never saw a woodl.;nd yet which 

 would not be improved from an ornamental and sylv.an point of view by a copious thinning. If 

 ihe growth of timber is desired fron\ a commercial point of view, a totally different set of con- 

 siderations come into play. Plantations for limber purposes are not, however, beautiful, and are 

 not what you want in the Forest." I regret that the writer of this opinion, for reasons which 

 have nothing to do with the present meeting, does not desire to have his name made known. 

 -R. M. 



