414 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



XXXI. Forestry in Kent and Sussex. By David A. Glen, 

 Forester, Bedgebury Park, Goudhurst, Kent. 



Somebody has called Kent the "Garden of England." 

 Assuming the accuracy of the simile, it may be permissible to 

 state that it is a garden which, in some respects, reflects little 

 credit upon many of those who are responsible for its good 

 management. Some of the hop-gardens are worked in a manner 

 that leaves nothing to be desired ; but, as a rule, little attention 

 is given to land that is not devoted to the apparently lucrative 

 industry of growing the seductive climber. In the economy of 

 agriculture Kent is practically a one-crop county; and it is to be 

 hoped it may never experience such a calamity as befell Ireland 

 in 1845, when disease attacked the homely potato, the staple crop 

 of " the tight little island," and brought ruin upon the land. 



However, if Kentish agriculture is open to adverse criticism, 

 the management of the majority of woodland areas in Kent, and 

 also in the adjoining county of Sussex, is probably more so. 

 Areas of woodland, more or less extensive, are sometimes let 

 along with the farms, so that the tenants may grow their own 

 hop poles. From this fact it will be readily inferred that the 

 woods in these counties are not very valuable property. The 

 system on which they are generally managed is one of spoliation 

 and robbery, which io is the purpose of this paper to criticise and 

 condemn. 



The impressions most forcibly thrust upon the mind of the 

 student of forestry during a residence ia these southern counties 

 are — first, the great natural advantages of soil and climate they 

 possess for the production of first-class timber ; and, second, the 

 nieagce extent to which these favourable conditions have been 

 utilised. Like some pictures, the average wood of these part3 

 looks best from a distance. Viewed from the summit of a distant 

 hill, it may form a pleasant feature in the landscape, but a 

 nearer view would probably be disappointing to the practical 

 forester, who loves to see good timber or the promise of it. A 

 walk through the wood would very likely show that it contained 

 a few starved-looking standard trees of various sorts and ages, 

 dotted amongst underwood or coppice, whichever it might 

 happen to be, with occasional bare patches by way of variety, 

 and the value of the whole perhaps not exceeding £25 or £30 



