FORESTRY IN KENT AND SUSSEX. 417 



brush, being suddenly deprived of the shelter afforded by the 

 coppice with which they have been surrounded, receive such a 

 check that they seldom do much good. If circumstances should 

 favour their survival, they are apt to develop into short-boled, 

 heavy-headed trees of little commercial value. A keen local 

 demand for small timber suitable for hop-growers' purposes is 

 another circumstance which influences the wood-reeve in the 

 manipulation of the paint-brush. Pure copse, as a rule, furnishes 

 more hop-poles per acre than copse that is dotted with over- 

 shadowing standards, and many promising young saplings are 

 sacrificed in consideration of this fact. 



The purchasers at a sale of standing coppice and underwood 

 are chiefly cottagers, who find in the cutting of the wood, and the 

 preparation of the hop-poles, a profitable means of employment 

 during the winter months. The prohibitive price of coal — Is. 8d. 

 per cwt. at the time of writing — puts that commodity beyond the 

 reach of this class, who, consequently, find it necessary to utilise 

 brush-faggots and waste pieces of wood as fuel. In view of these 

 facts, it is not surprising that the majority of labouring men in 

 these parts are experts in the use of the axe and the faggoting- 

 hook. 



The prices realised at a recent sale, when nearly 200 acres 

 of coppice and underwood were disposed of, do not constitute a 

 very flattering recommendat ; on of the system. The highest price 

 obtained was .£4, the lowest 5s., and the average was probably a 

 little over £2 per acre. Assuming that the average was £2, 10s. 

 per acre, and that a period of only ten years has elapsed since the 

 last clearing of the same ground, we get a return of 5s. per annum 

 per acre, from which must be deducted taxes, the cost of maintain- 

 ing roads and fences, besides the expenses in connection with the 

 sale. The foregoing is surely a miserable return for land situated 

 in the " Garden of England," and carrying very few, and, in some 

 cases, no standard trees at all. In face of such results, it is not 

 surprising that the question should be sometimes asked, Does 

 forestry pay 1 The only apparent advantage a proprietor of 

 woodland areas derives from this easy-going system is that he 

 is not obliged to keep a permanent staff of woodmen. How 

 much he loses by the system it would be difficult to correctly 

 estimate. 



The wood-buyer begins operations at the close of the game 

 shooting, or earlier if he is allowed. With his faggoting-hook he 



