ENGLISH FORESTRY IN THE PAST 9 



of by lords of the manor, and was the commencement of 

 that process of enclosure which practically terminated in the 

 eighteenth century. Its effect upon the natural forest of the 

 country, combined with the gradual reduction of the area 

 devoted entirely to the sport of the Sovereign, combined to 

 bring the extent of land occupied by wastes and forest down 

 to about half the total area of the country by the time of 

 Henry vin. It is evident that the stock of timber by this 

 time had been greatly reduced. The increasing flocks and 

 herds and the general absence of enclosed woodland interfered 

 greatly with that natural regeneration which went on at an 

 earlier period without any serious interruption. In this 

 reign, too, the dissolution of the monasteries converted a 

 great deal of woodland, which had hitherto been held in trust 

 for the good of these bodies, into the lands of private estates, 

 upon which no restrictions existed regarding its sale or de- 

 struction. At any rate, it was during this reign that one 

 of the first Acts connected with the preservation and growing 

 of timber trees was passed. 



This Act provided that, in copse or underwood felled at 

 twenty-four years' growth, twelve standards or store oaks 

 should be left on each acre, or, in default of oak, so many 

 elm, ash, or beech. The penalty for neglecting to obey this 

 law was a fine of 3s. 4d. for every standard, one-half of 

 which should go to the Crown, and the other to the informer. 

 "When cut under fourteen years of age, the ground had to 

 be enclosed or protected for four years, and no calv6s were to 

 be turned in under two years, or cattle under four years. 

 Cutting trees on waste or common lands was to be punished 

 by forfeiting 6s. 8d. for every tree so cut, but in the county 

 of Cornwall, within two miles of the sea, trees might be felled 

 when dead on the top. 



During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find 

 considerable references in manuscripts and records to the 

 growing scarcity of timber. In the Breviary of Suffolk, 

 written by Eobert Eeyce in 1618, he complains that " timber 

 is nothing so plentiful as of late days ; what with multiplicity 

 of curious buildings, variety of costly shipping, and various 

 other causes, hath almost totally consumed our timber, a 

 decay long since espied, but hereafter will be more bewailed, 



