ARBORICULTURE OF THE COUNTY OF KENT. 1G3 



feet high, and containing nearly the same amount of timber, are 

 frequently met with, which realise Is. 3d. per foot. 



Prospects. — It will be seen from the foregoing that the cultiva- 

 tion of trees for timber in Kent is on the decline, while the culti- 

 vation of coppice is on the increase. On some estates the timber, 

 much neglected during the lives of previous proprietors, has been 

 indiscriminately felled or thinned, leaving about one-third of a 

 crop to keep up an appearance. Several attempts have been 

 made by the foresters to replant coppice for poles, but have been 

 entirely baffled by the abundance of ground game, which have 

 destroyed almost every plant to the extent of several thousand 

 pounds value. Though the timber is disappearing, it is generally 

 supplanted by coppice, which yields a better, more certain, and 

 speedy return. It is more profitable to grow a crop for which 

 there is a great local demand, than to grow a crop for a distant 

 though profitable market. There are large tracts of poor sandy 

 soil in several parts of Kent, yielding 10s. to 15s. per acre as arable 

 land, which, if planted with chestnut and larch for hop poles, 

 would realise in ten years £40 to £50 per acre, and after the larch 

 was cut the chestnut woxdd become profitable coppice. The 

 superiority of larch poles over all others often leads to great 

 mistakes in planting larch on soil only fit to grow Scotch fir and 

 spruce. 



There are several hundred acres of moorish peaty soil, part of 

 which is covered with a healthy thriving crop of Scotch fir, but 

 much is still lying waste. If it were planted, it woidd realise 20s. 

 per acre for the time it occupies the ground, although small Scotch 

 fir only sells at 6d. per foot, while trees 8 inches through sell at 

 9d. per foot. It is principally used for barrel staves, and who can 

 tell but Scotch fir may yet realise Is. 8d. or 2s. per foot? In all 

 probability it will do so, when our supplies from America and the 

 Baltic are exhausted. If the thousands of acres of waste land 

 throughout Britain, in many cases now realising only 2s. 6d. per 

 acre, were planted, much money would be secured to posterity, 

 and the humidity of our island would be maintained and increased. 



"While spruce fir poles are imported from Norway, and fetch 

 great prices, I do not see why the downs of Kent should not be 

 planted with spruce for poles. As a rule, growing hop poles in 

 this county pays better than growing timber of any kind. Larch 

 is often planted on soil only fit for Scotch fir and spruce, on account 

 of the greater demand for larch than for spruce of the same age. 



