26 FORESTRY IN LATER TIMES 



cut down by the nobles to whom they were granted 

 by the King. However, this action did not affect 

 the country to any serious extent, since the demand 

 for timber materials at that time was more than 

 covered by the available supply. 



A far greater devastation of the woods took place 

 during the Civil War. From 1642 onwards, up to 

 the Restoration, fellings were carried out on an 

 enormous scale, whole forests being completely 

 razed to the ground, whilst other large areas were 

 laid waste by fire and wanton destruction. So 

 serious was the damage, and so grave the position of 

 the nation with reference to its timber supplies, that 

 within four years after the Restoration the matter 

 was brought to the public notice by the Council of 

 the newly founded Ro}'al Society, who commissioned 

 one of the members, John Evelyn, to deal with 

 the matter in a Memorandum. To this action we 

 owe the Sylva, Evelyn's great classic, in which 

 attention is drawn to the serious position of the 

 timber supplies of the country, and all proprietors 

 from the King downwards are earnestly exhorted 

 to plant trees. There can be little doubt of the 

 danger in which the nation stood owing to the 

 cessation of planting, which was widespread through- 

 out the country a natural aftermath of the long 

 period of internecine warfare when men had some- 

 thing else to do and think about outside their estates; 

 the retention of which, moreover, depended upon 

 their side being victorious. The stoppage of plant- 

 ing was therefore a perfectly natural outcome of 

 the times the nation had passed through, and a 



