Commons near Croydon, and their Flora. 3 
be made unless it be proved to the satisfaction of the Com- 
missioners (now the Board of Agriculture) and of Parliament 
that such inclosures will be of benefit to the neighbourhood as 
well as to private interests; and in every order made for the 
inclosure of a common certain conditions, so far as applicable, 
shall be inserted for the benefit of the neighbourhood—such as 
the preservation of free access to any particular point of view; 
of particular trees and objects of historical interest; of space’for 
recreation ; and of roads and footpaths. It is stated that under 
the private Inclosure Acts passed during the last century and the 
first half of the present one, some seven millions of acres of 
common land were inclosed, and under the Inclosure Act of 1846, 
618,000 acres more; but in the twenty years 1876-1895 only 
about 26,600 acres have been inclosed. 
In Croydon the commons were inclosed in the last century, 
though the names of Croydon Common and Thornton Heath 
still survive in what are now populous districts. In the Inclosure 
Act a piece of woodland in the North Wood—i. e. Norwood—was 
reserved to the parish to furnish the poorer inhabitants with fuel ; 
the parishioners, however, afterwards shortsightedly sold it for 
£2000, wherewith to build a town hall ‘for the better enter- 
tainment of His Majesty’s Judges.”” This town hall, which was 
never an object of beauty, and had become inadequate for the 
needs of the town, was pulled down a few years ago; so that 
_ Croydon has nothing left to show for the loss of its commons. 
If the money for building the town hall had been borrowed, it 
would long since have been paid off, and the land at Norwood 
would now have been of great value. We have of course recreation 
grounds, but they have been laid out in recent years, and can 
hardly be said to illustrate the native flora. ; 
Of the commons and open spaces near Croydon, Shirley Hills 
are maintained by the Corporation of Croydon; and Mitcham 
Common, Hayes Common, and Wimbledon Common by Conser- 
vators; while West Wickham Common, Riddlesdown, Farthing 
Down, Kenley Common, and Coulsdon Common are maintained 
by the Corporation of the City of London, to whom the public 
are also indebted for the preservation of Epping Forest and 
Burnham Beeches. It is to be hoped that some such benefactor 
may come forward to save for us our beautiful Croham Hurst. 
But when a common itself has been secured to the public as an 
open space, the native flora which has escaped the ploughman or the 
speculative builder finds another enemy in the landscape gardener, 
whose idea of improvement is to drain the wet places, or else form 
them into artificial pools; lay out roads and avenues; level and 
smooth the turf; plant borders and shrubberies; and thus 
convert into a trim park or formal garden what was a relic of 
_ primitive wilderness. The commons which are favourite holiday 
B 2 
