io ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



unless there be some universal care someways to repair so 

 important a ruin." 



In the Paston Letters a reference is also made to the 

 scarcity of timber in Suffolk, or rather to the great clearing 

 which preceded it. Both Pepys and Evelyn also have much 

 to tell us about the decreasing supply and great neglect of 

 woodlands in their time, and it was to the latter that we owe 

 that ancient text-book on forestry known as Sylva. During 

 the reign of Charles I. and the period occupied by the 

 Commonwealth, both timber and woodlands suffered a great 

 decrease. Royal forests were sold to private individuals in 

 return for cash, the timber they contained was felled, and the 

 troubled times of the Civil War did much to increase the 

 prevailing neglect. Many of our parks and woodlands were 

 wasted and destroyed during the Civil War, for the mere sake 

 of spoiling the property of their owners. Trees were cut 

 down and sold for a few pence apiece, park palings were 

 pulled up and burnt, and everything possible that could be 

 done to disfigure the estates owned by the opposing parties 

 carried out. 



About this time the woodlands of the country chiefly 

 consisted of coppice with standards on the drier soils, while 

 swampy and boggy spots were occupied by alder coppice, 

 known at that time as " alder moors." During this period 

 surveys were made of all lands previously in the possession 

 of the Crown, and valuations made of the coppice and timber. 

 In fact, every care seems to have been taken that the stock 

 of timber in the country at this time should be carefully 

 preserved, and there is no reason to suppose that the waste 

 referred to above continued after order was restored. 



But, while many attempts were made to preserve existing 

 supplies, there is little evidence that any serious attempt at 

 the improvement or extension of woods was made until the 

 end of the seventeenth century. When Evelyn read his 

 famous discourse before the Eoyal Society in 1662, the end 

 was reached of a long period of neglect and indifference to 

 the claims of economic forestry. It was at last being 

 recognised that the efforts hitherto made to maintain the 

 stock of timber in the country were inadequate. The 

 importance of the navy to national progress, and its de- 



