A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



Considerable areas were planted in Welbeck Park and its environs, to clothe the landscape, 

 about the year 1726. At that time oak, Spanish chestnut, and beech were used for forming mixed 

 plantations, with, no doubt, firs and larch to act as nurses, as in some instances a few of these are 

 found among the hardwoods. At a later date oak was, probably from the high price of bark and 

 also from the demand of oak timber for ship-building, given the preference, with the view of forming 

 pure oak plantations. Unfortunately there is now a limited demand for bark, and timber must be 

 of excellent quality to find a sale. Even the casual observer will notice the superiority of trees 

 grown in the mixed woods, being more apparent when sufficient beech has been left to shade the 

 oak and chestnut ; under such conditions are the long clean stems grown which realize the highest 

 prices. Only in sheltered situations is the oak, when grown in pure forest, found attaining similar 

 dimensions in this neighbourhood. Good oak is grown with coppice on the clay lands, but coppice 

 can only pay in localities where there is a local demand for it. 



The tendency to-day is in favour of plantations which will serve as suitable game coverts, 

 and thus a crop which will grow and mature quickly is often in request ; consequently firs and 

 larch are more generally planted as a crop than merely as nurses. 



The age of the old oaks in Birklands which have at some time been pollarded, from a careful 

 count of the annual layers of growth, places the trees at 387 years of age, and owing to their being 

 pollards decay has set in from the top downwards, and in many cases they are badly affected with 

 the ring and star shake. 1 



There has been steady planting on the Duke of Newcastle's Clumber estates since 1889, 

 averaging about 26 acres a year, exclusive of the renewal of old woodland. This fresh land 

 planting of some 425 acres has chiefly been of a mixed character, larch and Scotch fir being 

 mingled with oak, beech, and sycamore. A certain small amount has been planted with Corsican 

 pine, and another plot with poplars. Six acres of bog land were planted with birch in 1895. A 

 plantation of 24 j acres of mixed larch, Scotch fir, oak, beech, and pine, laid out in 1902, was 

 appropriately named Coronation Plantation. This year (1906) three acres of old woodland at 

 Hardwick Wood Round have been planted with Japanese larch. 8 



During the last thirty years there have been planted on Earl Manvers's property in South 

 Nottinghamshire, 33 acres in the parish of Clipston-on-the-Wolds, and 1 8 in the parish of Cotgrave. 

 The planting on the earl's North Nottinghamshire estate, in the like period, has been much more 

 considerable, namely, 194 acres in Edwinstowe, 204 in Budby-cum-Perlethorpe, 30 in Eakring, 

 26 in Kneesall, and 41 in Kersall. This gives a total on these estates of 646^ acres. 3 



On Lord Savile's Rufford Abbey estates there are now 1,700 acres of woods and plantations, 

 showing an increase of about 700 acres since the beginning of the nineteenth century. 4 



Particulars have been kindly supplied by Mr. Thomas W. Huskinson, F.S.I., land agent of 

 Epperstone, as to the planting on various smaller estates of the county under his agency, which 

 show considerable progress in arboriculture. 5 



1 From the information of Mr. Mitchie, the Duke of Portland's wood-steward. 



1 From the information of Mr. Arthur V. Elliott, agent of the Duke of Newcastle. 



* From the information of Mr. R. W. Wordsworth, agent of Earl Manvers. 



4 From the information of Mr. J. A. Bell, agent of Lord Savile. 



6 ' In my agency the following estates in Notts, have extensive woodlands : 



The Oxton estate, Captain Sherbrooke, R.N., owner, four miles from Southwell. Old wood- 

 lands, 338 acres; oak and ash ; ash underwood ; thin timber. Plantation last fifty years 54 acres. 

 Total 392 acres, nearly all on the clays. 



The Sherwood Lodge estate, Sir Charles Seely, bart., seven miles from Nottingham. Old 

 woodlands, 157 acres ; oak, chestnut, beech, and larch ; no underwood. Plantation, 365 acres ; of 

 this 1 50 acres only prepared for planting not yet planted. Total 522 acres, all on sands. 



Ossington estate, W. E. Denison, esq., eight miles from Newark. Old woodlands, 214 acres ; 

 ash underwood, oak and ash. Plantations, 67 acres. Total 281 acres, all on clays. 



Winkburn estate, Colonel Burnell, eight miles from Newark. Old woodlands, 405 acres ; 

 well looked after ; oak with ash underwood. 



Widmerpool estate, Major Robertson, nine miles south of Nottingham, on the wolds. Oak and 

 ash with hazel underwood. Old woodlands, 108 acres. Plantations, 60 acres, mostly larch and 

 spruce for game. Total 168 acres, all on clay. 



The other estates in our management in this district all agricultural with only small coppices or 

 shelter plantations. 



The estate duties on woodlands appear to me to be a mistake, as it is taxing a growing crop. 

 A tax on timber sales would be more equitable. As it is many people will be taxed for a property 

 in young woods that they never can enjoy. 



Planting is generally done with trees transplanted from nurseries. This I consider an expensive 

 method, and doubt whether there is any industrial profit. If planting were to be done on a large 

 scale on the clays I would advocate sowing the seed of oak, ash, and sycamore on the ground 

 reserved for the wood just like a corn crop, and singling out each few years as the seedlings settle 



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