120 Agriculture of Durliam. 



iliately after the enfranchisement of the leasehold lands. Even 

 on the freehold lands there might be much planted with advan- 

 tage. I have taken some pains to watch the effects of planting ixi. 

 other counties, and have for many years been of opinion that it 

 was a great oversight of the landowners in Durham to leave so 

 much of the county in that naked and bare condition in which it 

 has so long stood. I believe one reason why more has not been 

 planted is, that gentlemen who have planted have thought it an 

 expensive and unprofitable undertaking. But there has been, I 

 conceive, a grand mistake committed in most of the planting 

 Avhich has been undertaken, A proprietor, resolving on making 

 some plantations, sets out some long narrow belts, requiring, it 

 may be, some miles of fencing, the very expense of which is 

 enough to sink the undertaking at once, and having put in his 

 trees, there he leaves them to the care of Nature and the weather. 

 A different system should be adopted. We should set out with 

 two leading principles in our mind, or, as I might say, with two 

 important objects to be accomplished ; 1st. That if extensive 

 Avoods were reared in certain places, they would not only use up 

 a quantity of land which does not now pay for cultivation ; but 

 they would, by the shelter they afforded, raise the value of the 

 adjoining lands (as some think) 20 per cent. I have no doubt 

 that, if done in connection with the draining and other improve- 

 ments previously referred to, we might say, in certain localities, 

 from 30 to 40 per cent. 2nd. That, if properly attended to, a 

 crop of timber is just as profitable as all the crops of grain or 

 green food which might have been produced upon the land during 

 all the years that the wood would stand. This may be thought, 

 perhaps, a strong assertion, but I think facts and experience will 

 fully bear it out ; and the reason it has not been made more 

 manifestly apparent is just the fact already referred to, viz, : the 

 trees are not looked after as a crop worth cultivating, but are just 

 left, in too many instances, after being planted,, to care for them- 

 selves. It is the fashion in the county of Durham, when talking 

 on this subject, to refer to Chopwell woods, situate within the 

 county, as a standing example or warning against planting. I 

 may, therefore, be allowed to refer to them, and indeed the great 

 importance of the subject now under consideration will fully 

 justify a little more space before concluding my Report. The 

 Chopwell woods, situate in the Vale of Derwent, are the property 

 of the Crown, and contain 89G acres. They have been for years 

 notoriously under a neglected management. The trees are oak, 

 ash, elm, sycamore, beech, birch, and alder. The land is a 

 strong stiff clay with mixture of sand veins, and is full of wa4er. 

 These woods were in so bad a state that, on an examination made 

 a few years ago, 779 acres were recommended to be wholly 



