NEGLECT OF PLANTING xiii 



the nation to build. For the planting which was the 

 outcome, the direct outcome, of the publication of the 

 Sylva safeguarded the nation from invasion by Napo- 

 leon, enabled Trafalgar to be fought and won, and 

 thus gave us security from invasion for a whole century 

 thereafter. 



The "wooden walls" have disappeared and steel 

 ones have taken their place, but the need for planting 

 is at the present time just as urgent as it was in 

 Evelyn's day. The timber and other materials are 

 put to different uses but they are required in far larger 

 amounts and for a far greater variety of purposes. 

 Unfortunately our ancestors of the time of Dr. Hunter 

 and subsequently did not follow the advice of the 

 Sylva' s great author, and we are suffering accordingly. 



There was, it is true, a certain revival of planting in 

 the latter half of the eighteenth and the early part of 

 the nineteenth centuries. Before Hunter issued his 

 edition of the Sylva the Royal Society of Arts had 

 given attention to the question. Founded in 1754, the 

 Society soon afterwards instituted a system of pre- 

 miums and medals to be awarded to those sowing 

 and planting up the greatest areas of land. Between 

 1758 and 1821, 127 gold and 40 silver medals were 

 awarded in this way, in addition to pecuniary pre- 

 miums. As a result of this enlightened policy a con- 

 siderable amount of planting was carried out during 

 this period. 



After about 1820 planting, save in a few exceptional 

 cases, appears to have gradually ceased to be a hobby 

 of the landowner or to be considered as exercising any 

 importance in the national economy of the nation. 



