16 ANCIENT WOODS. 



his cuttings as nearly as he can to suit the local 

 demand, and to begin as early as possible, so that 

 every opportunity may he seized, in suitable wea- 

 ther, for getting away the produce, and it must he 

 his own personal duty to see that no avoidable 

 injury is done to the stools by the carriages. 

 These reasons appear to me to be quite sufficient 

 to establish a decided preference for the mode 

 which I recommend over the system to which I 

 have referred ; but there is another, which I can- 

 not but think will be deemed of importance enough 

 by itself to decide the question, and it is this: viz.: 

 the impossibility of deciding, before the Underwood 

 is cut, what Oak Trees ought, or ought not, to 

 come down. It is quite possible, I admit, to jump 

 to a conclusion on the subject : to deny this in the 

 face of the evidence which every succeeding Win- 

 ter affords, would be absurd ; but I affirm that no 

 woodman can do it correctly. He ought, at least, 

 to have a clear coast, to enable him to give due 

 consideration to the various points on which he 

 should be fully satisfied, before he cuts down that, 

 which his whole life would not suffice to set 

 up again. How little consideration enters into 



