12 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



or corporate bodies, and its acquirement by private indi- 

 viduals, and partly the neglect of forestry development in 

 the rural economy of the country two centuries back, due 

 to the causes already mentioned. In the sixteenth and 

 seventeenth centuries, large areas of forest lands, more or 

 less covered with timber, remained in the hands of the 

 State, Crown, Church, or communes, in many European 

 countries, or possibilities existed of resuming possession 

 of them on easy terms. The forests of monastic institu- 

 tions, ecclesiastical properties, communal lands, etc., were 

 supervised in some form or other with a view to their 

 preservation and systematic administration, and far more 

 economic ideas prevailed with regard to the management 

 of private woodlands than was the case with similar 

 areas in Britain, or even those in the hands of the Crown. 

 From the time of Henry viii. to that of Charles ii., 

 a period of about two hundred years, a process of trans- 

 ferring the forests from the Crown to the private indi- 

 vidual went on in England and other parts of Britain, 

 partly by grants to courtiers and favourites, partly by 

 sale for the purpose of raising money, while the dissolution 

 of the monasteries in 1540 went a long way towards 

 reducing the stock of woodland in the hands of corpor- 

 ate bodies, until the time came when a mere fragment 

 of forest land remained in other than private hands. 

 The timber on the large areas of manorial wastes or 

 ' commons ' was also gradually destroyed by grazing, 

 felling, etc., until these wastes, which were originally 

 forests, consisted of little but open pastures by the time 

 they were enclosed by various Acts of Parliament. While 

 this destructive process was going on here, the more 

 advanced nationalities abroad, such as France, Switzer- 

 land, the German States, etc., were inaugurating a system 

 of scientific forestry which gradually extended from the 

 state, church, and communal foi'ests to the private woods, 



