98 



THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 



Fig. 5. — " PuLi'ir Oak" and "Poachers Pocket," Eiting Forest. 



Forest from the encloser. It is yet only 12 ft. 8 in. in circumference, 

 but as it is a vigorous tree, so we may hope it will, in the centuries 

 to come, continue to be an ornament to the Forest, and serve to 

 remind many generations of the good work done by the worthy 

 Councillor Bedford. 



At Theydon Ganion there is an oak (fig. 6) which, previous 

 to its partial decay, probably measured 16 feet round its trunk. 

 In Lodge Bushes, a charming portion of Epping Forest, we have 

 also the " Pulpit Oak," and the tree called the " Poacher's Pocket," 

 both of them picturesque specimens, but comparatively small (fig. 5). 



When we recollect the many thousand acres of this ancient 

 woodland, one cannot but wonder that it does not contain more 

 fine oaks than exist in many a private park of not more than a 

 dozen acres. Perhaps the explanation given by Fisher in his 

 " Forest of Essex," is the correct one. He says : — 



"The comparative scarcity of large trees in the Epping division 

 of the Forest arose from the continual felling of timber, and from 

 treating new growth as coppice wood. This was much practised in 

 the eighteenth century." 



It is also possible that the right of lopping which prevailed in 



