THE TWENTY-SIXTH ANNUAL EXCURSION. 311 



to by Mr Buchanan ; " The Landed Interest " by Mr Fleming, and 

 replied to by Mr J. A. Campbell; "Kindred Societies" by Mr 

 Wm. Mackinnon, and replied to by Mr Peter Fyshe ; " Forestry 

 Education," by Mr Wilde, and replied to by Dr Somerville; "The 

 Chairman " was proposed by Bailie Murray; "The Croupiers" 

 by Mr Smith, Maybole; and "The Secretary" by Mr Jack, 

 Maybole. 



Fourth Day. 



The fourth and last day of the Excursion was devoted to 

 an inspection of beech woods in Buckinghamshire, and cabinet 

 and chair factories at High Wycombe. 



The company, leaving their luggage at Leighton Buzzard 

 Station to be forwarded to Euston Station, London, took train 

 for Aylesbury, where carriages were waiting to convey them 

 to 



Hampden, 



the seat of the Earl of Buckinghamshire. Wyburn Woods 

 were first inspected, and here Mr James, the local agent, 

 explained the system of management followed. The woods 

 on the estate extend to about 2000 acres, and are worked 

 according to a regular system peculiar to the district. One- 

 third of the area is taken in hand each year, and from it 

 are extracted the stems of a size that meet the local demand. 

 Those stems are also taken which are very broad crowned, 

 diseased, or otherwise faulty. On the spots from which the 

 trees have been removed there springs up a plentiful supply 

 of seedling beech, so that no expense is incurred in establishing 

 the young crop. It takes about forty years for beech to grow 

 to the most useful size for chair-making timber. They did 

 not care about cultivating the large plank trade, as better 

 prices were realised for good clean timber for turning. From 

 lOd. to Is. 3d. per cubic foot on the ground were the prices 

 realised, according to quality and existing demand, and every- 

 thing that could possibly be classified as timber was sold at 

 these figures. Many of the purchasers brought their machinery 

 into the woods and did their turning there, sending direct into 

 the chair factories, and saving the cartage on the waste. Any- 

 thing down to 2 inches in diameter could thus be worked up. 

 The timber was usually felled by the vendors, and sold in lots 

 of about fifty trees, averaging from 10 feet to 15 feet each. 



