EXTINCT WOODS AND FORESTS. 147 



crown, but subject to manorial and common rights, and no 

 inconsiderable portion has been private property for ages 

 past.* 



" The whole of the once extensive royal domains, now 

 appropriated to the growth of timber for the navy, is stated 

 to be about 38,000 acres ; a diminutive portion indeed ! 

 The average quantity of timber which the whole of the 

 royal forests have furnished for the seven years preceding 

 1815, according to the report of the Commissioners, was 

 4247 loads per year and in that year they supplied only 

 4110 loads." 



Mr M'William, in introducing the subject, remarks : 

 "On account of the vast increase of our manufactories, 

 the consumption of timber is also greatly increased; so 

 that even could we suppose the country to be as com- 

 pletely forested now, as it was some hundred years ago, 

 this would be insufficient to meet the present demand, 

 without reducing the quantity very rapidly, or having 

 recourse to planting. Yet from the notion that timber 

 will grow only in particular situations, many are deterred 

 from planting ; which has also been checked by bringing 

 into cultivation lands that have for many years been 

 covered, sheltered, and fertilized by the growth of timber. 

 But the agriculture of the country has been little increased 

 in extent of surface by this proceeding : for extensive 

 tracts of land, formerly cultivated, have now, in consequence 

 of the loss of these very woods, become more exposed and 

 bleak, and have been rendered barren by this exposure. 

 Thus while the woodlands have been converted into corn- 

 fields, the cornfields have been converted into barren 

 ground ; as is evident from the marks of the plough yet to 

 be seen on many extensive plains, now covered with heath 

 and furze, not yielding a shilling a year per acre." 



* By a survey of the Forest of Sherwood in 1609, according to Mr Robert Lowe, 

 (View of the Agriculture of Nottingham), it was found to contain 95,117 acres, 3 roods, 

 36 poles ; yet this surface was occupied by no less than 46 towns or villages, several 

 of them of considerable magnitude. 





