STATE OF ARBORICULTURE IN NORTH LANCASHIRE. 189 
General, Receiver-General, and two Auditors were entitled to deer 
summer and winter. These forests belonged to the Duchy of Lan- 
caster, at that time vested in the rights of the king. No trace of 
these forests now remain. 
Woods and Plantations.—Having given a brief outline of the 
county in relation to soil, climate, and situation, I will now turn to 
the more immediate subject of this report, and shall endeavour to 
give a description of some of the leading features of Arboriculture in 
North Lancashire. In this county, as unfortunately we find the 
same in many other districts, a great many proprietors only look 
upon their woods as mere game preserves. In many cases a man is 
not allowed to enter them except at certain seasons of the year, and 
often delaying the operations of thinning and pruning until the trees 
are damaged past recovery, and never can attain the object aimed at, 
namely, the supply of profitable timber for the benefit of the estate. 
In laying out plantations in this county proprietors have of course 
been influenced by different motives—shelter, ornament, and sport— 
and in many instances the result is, that the plantations have not 
always been laid out to the best advantage. Nor have the trees 
been planted in the most suitable soils and situations, as we often 
see larch planted where other trees would have succeeded better. 
In some districts of the county coppice woods are chiefly grown. 
These consist, as a rule, of oak, alder, birch, ash, and hazel, and are 
generally cut over from eighteen to twenty-five years of age. The 
principal coppice woods are in the Furness district, and are generally 
well grown, while in other districts little attention is paid to the 
coppice from the time of cutting until the crop is ready to cut 
again. A case came under my personal observation the other day 
in a wood extending to about 65 acres, mostly about fourteen years 
growth. Thinning of no description has been done since last cut- 
ting; the result is, that the shoots from the stools are all weakly and 
overdrawn, and the crop deteriorated in every way. 
Fences.—The thorn hedge is very common as a fence in North 
Lancashire, more especially in the low-lying districts, where some 
very good specimens are to be seen. The management is the same 
as that which, I believe, is common in other counties in England, 
viz., when the hedge gets overgrown, which in some cases it is 
allowed to do for the sake of shelter, it is laid over, and at the 
same time still forms a fence, by cutting the stems about half way 
through 6 inches or so from the ground. Stakes and pegs are 
then driven into the line of fence to keep the layers in their place. 
