AFFORESTATION 317 



and distinguished the old landowner from the 

 mere rent-receiver. To-day, in spite of many 

 lectures from Sir William Schlich, landowners 

 have received his entreaties with deaf ears. 

 The old feudal lord was willing to plant the 

 acorn in the soil of his country for the glory 

 of his country. The new race of landowners 

 living without any feudal ties, any forced 

 military service to the Crown, rejects the 

 proposition to plant, on the score that the 

 investment would hardly yield 3 per cent on 

 the capital. 



Nor can we expect many men to possess 

 either the patriotic ardour, or the time, to 

 practise Mr. Charles Hurst's magic pastime 

 of planting the golden - brown treasures of 

 Sherwood Forest wherever he comes across 

 an open space in spinneys or coppices, lieaths 

 or banks protected from cattle and the hedger 

 and ditcher. 



In The Book of the English Oak we learn 

 how this gentle patriot enriches our country 

 as he takes his rural walks with a wallet 

 filled with the seeds of the oak. 



"The setting of an acorn," he says, "is 

 such an important matter that I will describe 

 my method minutely. Having selected a 



