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is Ankerwyke, famous for its ancient yew tree, girthing in stem 
about 28 feet, beneath which, tradition says, Henry VIII. courted 
Anne Boleyn. Strutt, in his Sylva, supposes the age of the tree to 
be over a thousand years, and says— 
‘* What scenes have passed since first this ancient yew, 
In all the strength of youthful beauty grew! 
Beneath the shelter of this yew tree’s shade, 
The royal lover woo’d the ill-starr’d maid.” 
On the opposite side of the river in Surrey, and not far from 
the places just mentioned, stands Cooper’s Hill College, the pre- 
sent training place of students for the Indian Forest Service. The 
route to Southampton lies across the county of Surrey, among 
picturesque valleys divided by low heath-clad hills, and presents 
many beautiful views, which, however, the shades of evening had 
closed upon, as well as upon the grassy Hampshire downs, and 
the fine old cathedral city of Winchester, before they were reached. 
Little was, therefore, seen of the country on the way to South- 
ampton. The headquarters of the Society were there established at 
the ‘“‘South-Western Hotel,” for the two days’ visit to the New 
Forest. 
FOURTH DAY. 
Thursday, 10th August. 
THE SOUTHERN DIVISION OF THE NEW FOREST. 
HAMPSHIRE. 
Hampshire and the adjoining county of Sussex are the best 
wooded—or have the largest acreage of woodlands—of all the 
counties in England. It need not be assumed, however, that the 
whole of the area of these ‘‘ woodlands ”—or forests—is covered 
with a full crop of thriving trees, any more than are the “forests” 
in the Scottish Highlands, where deer and grouse are the chief 
“crops” looked for. Still, in this southern part of England, much 
of the forest land is well wooded, if not heavily timbered, and the 
district to be visited—the New Forest—lying in the south-west 
corner of Hants, is of the deepest interest to every arborist, pre- 
senting as a whole the largest area extant in England of the ancient 
