BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ARBORICULTURE OF THE NEW FOREST. 23 
Charles the Second to inquire into “ wastes, spoils, and abuses ;” 
but the forests suffered much on the whole during the times of 
the Commonwealth and later Stuart kings. This is proved by 
actual surveys. In 1608 the survey of James the First, referred to 
above, showed that there were in the New Forest 123,927 trees 
fit for the use of the navy, containing 197,405 loads of timber. 
In 1707, after one hundred years of neglect and waste, the return 
gives a total of but 12,476 trees, containing 19,873 loads, fit for 
navy purposes, 
This sad state of affairs had already roused attention, and the 
Act 9and 10 William III. was passed, for, to quote the report of 
the commissioners of 1789 (one of the best histories of the New 
Forest ever compiled): “the greatest part of the trees had been 
felled, the fences of the ancient coppices destroyed, and the deer 
and cattle everywhere admitted, so that it was found impossible 
to restore the forest to its ancient condition without the aid of an 
Act of Parliament.” 
Under this Act it was provided that 2000 acres should forth- 
with be enclosed and planted with timber for the use of the navy 
only, underwood and all other produce being excluded; that 200 
acres should be enclosed annually for twenty years following ; 
and that as soon as any of the land thus enclosed was safe from 
damage by cattle it should be thrown open, and the like area 
enclosed in its stead. A provision was thus made for the planting 
of 12,000 acres at the least, and it was also held that a “ rolling 
power existed by which, when these 12,000 acres were thrown 
out, a second 12,000 might be started upon.” This power has 
been called in question, and it has been contended that the power 
extended in all to 12,000 acres only; the-point was never finally 
decided, and in fact never arose, so that it is not worth discussing 
now. Each enclosure, when made, was to be properly ‘‘ butted and 
bounded” by a surveyor, and the quantities thereof returned into 
His Majesty’s Court of Exchequer. There was accordingly an 
exact record of each plantation that cannot be contravened, and 
perhaps it is on that account that some have sought to make out 
that this comparatively modern Act was the first effort made by 
the Crown to form woods in the Forest. It was, on the contrary, 
an abridgment and modification of the power exercised by the 
Crown without let or hindrance from time immemorial. In this 
Act the powers are defined and limited for the first time, and the 
“rights of common” are also referred to and defined to some 
