ihe Saw. a 
been. proverbial, that it is to be hoped fome fteps 
will foon be taken, to wipe away the ftigma, and to 
make the foreft as valuable as nature intended “it 
fhould be. There are undoubtedly many parts of 
the county, in which as great attention is paid to the 
prefervation of wood, as in other parts of the king- 
dom; but it cannot be denied, that'a want of that 
attention in general is too obvious, in many parts of 
the county, to efcape the notice of every traveller 
who is a judge of the fubject, and which nothing 
tends to attract fo much as the peculiar and almoft 
inconceivably rapid growth of fuch wood as is pro- 
tected and taken care of. 
Upon a general enquiry into the ftate of the woods 
in the weftern counties, and from an adiual know- 
ledge of a great part of them, the writer hereof is of 
opinion, that the quantity of wood-land in thofe coun~ 
ties is not reduced in any great degree; that in many 
large tractsof woodland, greatadvantages haveoflale 
years been derived from exonerating them, by inclo- 
fure acts, or other agreements, from the feed of cattle, 
to which they were before fubject, and by which 
they were very much injured; that upon the whole, 
as much attention, or perhaps more, is paid to the 
prefervation of woods, than has been in any former 
period; that from the quantity of woods newly 
planted within the laft few years, and particularly 
from that fpirit of enquiry into ¢heir value now fo 
generally diffufed throughout this kingdom, which 
will 
