36 ANCIENT WOODS. 



much might be done, in many places, without 

 laying an increased tax on the local buyers, who 

 are generally either farmers, 'or their tradesmen, 

 the wheelwrights and carpenters of every neigh- 

 bourhood, and who already pay quite enougli for 

 what they get ; and especially the former -, to 

 whom I would much sooner recommend their 

 landlords to allow an abatement ', as an encourage- 

 ment to them to keep their fences, gates, &c. in 

 good order, than any thing in the shape of an 

 advance. But still, much may be done to increase 

 the returns from woodland property, by an improv- 

 ed system of management, and, first, I should 

 advise a careful assortment of the stuff after it is 

 felled: I would here, as in every thing else, 

 classify, by which means, the different kinds, as 

 well as the different sizes, and shapes, will come 

 into the hands of such persons as they may exactly 

 suit, instead of jumbling all sorts together, so that 

 a buyer is obliged to purchase that which he does 

 not want, in order to come at another portion of 

 the same lot which he is desirous of having. 



Secondly : There is room to doubt, I think, as 

 hinted before, whether mistakes are not often 



