ANCIENT WOODS. 25 



agricultural uses, and it can very seldom be 

 allowed to stand longer without serious injury to 

 the stools. A very little consideration will convince 

 any one, who does not resist conviction, that such 

 ought to be the state of a wood so circumstanced 

 as* to oak ; but nevertheless the actual condition 

 of most woods is widely different from this : instead 

 of there being a full crop of underwood, where 

 there is a deficiency of timber, or a full crop of 

 timber, where there is little or no underwood, it 

 too frequently happens that there is neither the 

 one nor the other, even on land which is, as was 

 remarked before, capable of yielding a handsome 

 revenue ! And here let it not be supposed that 

 I am speaking of extreme cases only^ or that there 

 are but few woods in this state : the cases are 

 numerous : I have seen, and could point out many, 

 but this I shall not do : I rather choose to leave 

 these observations with "all whom they may con- 

 cern," to work conviction where they are seen to 

 be just, quite indifferent as to the effect which 

 they may produce on the minds of any who may 

 oppose them. 



