STATE AND PROSPECTS OF ARBORICULTURE IN HAMPSHIRE. 519 
destroyed have never been found, there is on record, in a peram- 
bulation in the eighth year of the reign of Edward, a.p. 1050, 
which was sixteen years previous to the Norman Conquest, that 
the boundaries of this ‘‘ Forest” were more extensive then than 
they were when “ Domesday Book” was compiled in William’s 
reign. From this fact it may be concluded that the Conqueror 
decreased the area of forest, while, at the same time, he dislodged 
the poachers from it who preyed upon the beasts of the chase— 
or, in other words, made it more private for the purpose of his 
sport. It may be noticed that this love of the chase on the part 
of kings and nobles has contributed more than any other con- 
sideration to hand down to us some of the noblest of our forests. 
The principal timber products of the “forest” are oak, beech, 
and Scots fir. 
The Forest of Bere extends about three miles northwards from 
Havant and Portsdown Hill, and westward from the borders of 
Sussex, for about six miles, and contained within its boundaries 
in 1608 about 16,000 acres ; but it may now be taken at about 
half that quantity, and is not of much importance either for 
scenery or timber products. 
Woolmer Forest is to the east of Selbourne, and was enclosed 
and allotted in 1858, 1000 acres being reserved for the Crown. 
A fire broke out May 22d, 1881, and extended over some 670 
acres, rendering the whole a barren waste. These fires seem to have 
occurred periodically ; for Gilbert White, in his ‘‘ Natural History 
of Selbourne,” says: “‘ The royal forest of Woolmer is a tract of land 
of about seven miles in length by two and a half in breadth, run- 
ning nearly north and south, Though (by 4 and 5 William and 
Mary, c. 23) ‘to burn on any waste land, between Candlemas and 
Midsummer, any grig, ling, heath and furze, goss or fern, is punish- 
able with whipping and confinement in the house of correction ;’ 
yet in this forest, about March or April, according to the dryness 
of the season, such vast heath-fires are lighted up that they often 
get to a masterless head, and, catching the hedges, have sometimes 
been communicated to the underwoods, woods, and coppices, 
where great damage has ensued. The plea for these burnings is, 
that when the old coat of heath is consumed the young will 
sprout up and afford much tender browse for the cattle; but 
where there is large old furze, the fire, following the roots, con- 
sumes the very ground ; so that for hundreds of acres nothing is 
to be seen but smother and desolation, the whole circuit round 
looking like the cinders of a volcano,” 
