66 
and horses eat up every sapling that manages to push its head 
above ground. 
This state of matters is all the more extraordinary, from an 
arboricultural point of view, when it is considered that, owing to 
the vast extent of the Forest, planting could be carried on without 
the grazing and other rights being interfered with. For example, 
there are several large plantations of Scots firs laid out twenty-five 
to thirty years ago, the trees in which are sufficient in size to be 
beyond the reach of damage by cattle. These plantations could 
now, with perfect safety, be thrown open to grazing, and a tract 
of open country similar in size might be enclosed and planted ; but 
such is the state of the law that this cannot be attempted, 
and, to the great loss of the country, actually nothing is being done 
to carry on the open woodlands to future generations. 
According to the Hon. Gerald Lascelles’ report, the total extent 
of the present Forest comprises in all a tract of 92,395 acres. Of © 
this vast area 27,658 acres are private property, and the remainder 
is classified as follows :—Open heath and pasture, 40,478 acres ; 
open lands with timber, 4500 acres; enclosed plantations, 11,138 
acres ; open plantations, 6532 acres; and freehold and copyhold 
of the Crown, 2089 acres—the Crown property being thus some- 
thing like 63,000 acres. Of this area, 4500 acres are occupied by 
old woods, planted prior to the year 1700; 17,670 acres are under 
plantations of dates varying from one hundred and ninety to 
twenty-five years of age; 11,000 acres are set down as rough 
pasture ; and the balance of about 30,000 acres has been described 
by an eminent authority as “‘unfit for either agriculture, growth of 
timber, or pasture.” The soil of the whole area is a flinty gravel, 
varying very much in quality, and though heather is growing 
everywhere, there is not in the New Forest anything like the peaty 
deposits which are known in the Highlands of Scotland. 
SoUTHAMPTON TO BEAULIEU. 
It was arranged that to-day the Excursionists should visit the 
Southern Division of the New Forest, lying between Southampton 
Water on the east, Boldrewood on the west, Beaulieu on the south, 
and Lyndhurst on the north. With such a long and trying 
journey in the programme for the day, not much time could 
be given to the exploration of Southampton and its suburbs, 
although some of the earliest afoot had found their way over 
