312 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Some oak was grown with the beech, but there was not much 

 demand for it, and it was usually sold at about Is. 6d. per cubic 

 foot. It was principally long and clean grown, as the trees 

 present in the woods showed, and was of good quality. The 

 net yield was said to be 15s. per acre per annum over the 

 whole area. 



A few minutes were spent at Hampden House, and the 

 company then drove on to 



HUGHENDEN, 



which formerly belonged to the late Earl of Beaconsfield, and 

 is now the property of Mr Coningsby Disraeli. On this property 

 the woods are gone over in a succession period of seven years, 

 operations being conducted over one-seventh of the area each 

 year. From these areas about one-tenth part of the stock is 

 removed. In this way the felling age being about seventy, 

 an amoiint of timber approximately equal to the growth of 

 the year is removed each felling season. By this arrangement 

 the main stock or capital of the forest is not touched, and only 

 the annual production or interest is removed. In the case of 

 the Hughenden woods, Mr Arthur Vernon, who has the 

 management of the estate, informed the party that the annual 

 receipts amounted to 40s. per acre per annum for the last thirty 

 years. It is expected that this income, subject, of course, to 

 fluctuations in the price of timber, will annually be reaped in 

 perpetuity. So long as the principle above enunciated is adhered 

 to, there is no reason why this expectation should not be 

 realised. 



West Wycombe. 



The woods on this estate, which is owned by Sir Robert 

 Dash wood, Bart., were also visited under the guidance of Mr 

 Vernon. The system of management is similar to that followed 

 on the Hughenden Estate. 



From West Wycombe the party drove back to High 

 Wycombe to see the chair and cabinet factories of 

 Messrs Birch & Son. All the stages of manufacture were 

 watched with greatest interest by the visiting party. So far 

 as possible, beech timber is employed in the construction of 

 the chairs, but owing to the small extent of the woods in 

 the district, a quite insufficient supply is obtainable locally. 

 Eighty per cent, of the timber must be imported from abroad, 



