148 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with that of forests in England, and Mr Stebbing, in later 

 chapters of his book, endeavours to cover the British Isles. 



It would take up too much space to discuss all the points in 

 Mr Stebbing's historical account of British forests to which 

 exception might be taken, and we must confine ourselves to a 

 few matters which we have specially noted. He states that the 

 " Romans assisted to some extent in decreasing the forest area 

 by driving their great roads through the country and in clearing 

 areas for their encampments, and to prevent ambuscades." 

 He appears to be unaware that in the later Roman period 

 Britain was a corn-exporting country, that metals were worked 

 and cloth manufactured. Without consideration of these 

 factors, clearly a very erroneous impression must be formed, 

 and we are not in point of fact without some guidance as to the 

 areas of the country that had been cleared for other than 

 military purposes. 1 



When we come to the mediaeval period we are rather surprised 

 at the assurance with which it is stated that "from early times 

 after the departure of the Romans the forests in England were 

 utilised by the King and his nobles for purposes of sport and 

 the chase. . . . Large tracts of country were reserved as 

 Royal hunting-grounds, these areas consisting of blocks of 

 country which included agricultural land, waste lands, as well 

 as forest. Within the Royal hunting-grounds only the King and 

 his nobles were allowed to hunt. ..." If we are not mistaken 

 this account is based upon the spurious Constitntiones Forestce 

 of Canute : but the fragmentary and uncertain evidence for the 

 dim six centuries from the fifth to the eleventh would not, we 

 suggest, lead to the conclusions so confidently adopted by 

 Mr Stebbing. 



Let us pass on to the Conquest. "William I.," we read, 

 " took over the Royal hunting-domains of his Saxon pre- 

 decessors. Within a brief interval he became alarmed at the 

 rate the forest lands were being disforested, and to prevent this 

 he extended the boundaries of the hunting-grounds of the 

 Saxon Kings and called them Royal forests, all such lands 

 being termed 'afforested' lands. ..." What Mr Stebbing 

 really supposes to have been the action of the Conqueror we 

 are at a loss to discover, nor can we attach any meaning to the 

 second sentence of the quotation. 



1 Cf. Haverfield, The Romanisation of Roman Britain (1915)) PP- 26, 27. 



