THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 353 



of thorns and briars, with hornbeam scrub, and oak and ash saplin<,'s are sprinj^ing 

 up everywhere amontj the thorns and liornbeams, and will in time form Imetrees^ 

 especially if heavy thinnings are avoided. On the cleared land grass seed had 

 been sown, and the grass was rapidly covering the ground. Some areas in this 

 grassland have been fenced in and sown or planted with groups of the local forest 

 trees, and as shelter is provided to them by thorns and bushes of gorse, tree 

 growth will gradually assert itself. 



There was, however, one point which Professor Fisher desired to bring before 

 the notice of the management, and that was, why should they not have a small 

 area, say twenty acres, planted with oak and beech, so as to form eventually a 

 tine crop of tall trees, like the woods planted in Windsor Forest by the Duchess 

 of Marlborough and in the New Forest by William III., or the Artistic Section 

 in the Forest of Compiegne ? 



Professor Fisher alluded to the time and energy which Mr. E. N. Buxton had 

 devoted to the carrying out the purposes of the London County Council, but a. 

 day would come when his distinguished services would be no longer available — 

 and woods take a long time to grow. The Council would, therefore, be well 

 advised in having a scheme of re-afiforesting work drawn up, say, for twenty years, 

 and showing the financial arrangements which are necessary. Such a scheme, 

 when once agreed upon, shotild be rigidly adhered to. At the end of the twenty 

 years a revised scheme would be necessary, and the experience gained during the 

 first twenty years would greatly assist the Council in its plan of creating another 

 pleasure-ground for the enormous population undei its charge. 



There are some grazing rights on the forest area just acquired, and :'. tendency 

 had been observed of the right holders using their position to introduce the cattle 

 of outsiders, who have no rights on the land. These rights should certainly be 

 properly regulated, and it would be worth while considering whether they could 

 not be purchased outright by the Council, as the presence of cattle is fatal to 

 young seedling trees that would otherwise spring up in the grassy glades among 

 the scrub. 



A marked difference between Hainhault Forest and that of Epping lay in the 

 absence of beech, which grows so well on the sandy hillocks above the clay land 

 of Epping Forest. 1 



Essex was the m.ost north-westerly natural habit of the hornbeam. This- 

 small, but extremely hardy, tree formed large forests in Russia, and spread as far 

 west as the north-east of France. It hardly extended to the west of the river 

 Seine, as hornbeam cannot compete in height-growth with beech and oak, except 

 in situations where the beech was kept back by severe spring frosts. These 

 frosts were specially prevalent on cold, moist, clay-soils that were inimical to 

 beech, but where oak will still grow, and where the hornbeam, which was a 

 shade-bearing tree, formed an excellent underwood beneath the oak trees which 

 generally required either beech or hornbeam nurses to produce fine timber. 



Tea was served in the large barn of Foxborough Farm, and afterwards a 

 discussion ensued under the chairmanship of Mr. Rudler, the President of the 

 Club. On the proposal of Prof. Meldola and the President, a cordial vote of 

 thanks was passed to Mr. Buxton for his kindness in conducting the meeting, and 

 congratulating him on the successful termination of his long and arduous exertions 

 in the recovery and re-aff"orestation of so large a portion of the old forest lands. 

 I Consult Mr. Dalton's paper in the present part, ante p. 340. 



