ANCIENT WOODS. 29 



or their habits, interpose an insurmountable diffi- 

 culty, and relieve them from the charge of wilful 

 neglect : and as to the others it is no injustice to 

 them to affirm, as I do most positively, that there 

 are principles and considerations involved in this 

 subject, which they can, in no wise, grasp or 

 comprehend : and so perfectly clear is this to me, 

 so fully am I borne out by a long course of "ob- 

 servation and experience," that I have never yet 

 seen one solitary instance, where the timber taken 

 down in thinning, either in woods or plantations, 

 when in smh hands, has been properly done ; and 

 in very few cases indeed, either here, or higher 

 up the scale, without the most serious blunders. 

 One case has fallen under my observation this 

 Winter, (1842,) where oak timber trees were 

 selected and marked for sale, which were exactly, 

 in every respect, such as a good judge would wish 

 to see in every wood ; and not only, not too thick, 

 but, from the same injudicious mode of selecting 

 and marking at previous auctions, much too thin. 

 They were also in a state of high vigorous health, 

 and moreover, there was no underwood which 

 could be benefited ! I admit that this was a more 



