PRESENT CONDITION OF ENGLISH FORESTRY 23 



England, and forestry was represented almost entirely by 

 the coppice with standards, which will be dealt with 

 presently. The chief ideas on the subject of treating planta- 

 tions were derived from Scotch foresters and authors, and 

 a perusal of their works and observation of their methods 

 of thinning in the past will leave little doubt in the mind 

 of the impartial critic that their object was rather to grow 

 trees than timber. The system of thinning applied to English 

 plantations in the past has therefore led to the production 

 of woods full of coarse, knotty, and more or less unsaleable 

 timber, and has led chiefly, if not entirely, to a prejudice 

 being entertained by the timber merchant against a large 

 number of species which might, had they been properly 

 grown, have proved of great value. 



But the influence of early thinning on English woods 

 has probably been less fatal to successful sylviculture than 

 the process of late thinning carried out to meet the demand 

 for poles or timber, or to improve the woods for game cover. 

 The fact cannot be denied, that thick woods with little or 

 no herbage or undergrowth cannot support or shelter the 

 same head of game and rabbits per acre as ground covered 

 with rough grass, brambles, and general rubbish, with just 

 enough trees for roosting and sheltering purposes. The 

 (perhaps unconscious) recognition of this fact is greatly 

 responsible for the open order which the majority of English 

 woods exhibit after middle age. Occasionally, where the 

 provision of game cover is almost reduced to a science, it 

 is the practice to sacrifice from over half to three-fourths 

 of the growing crop at one sweep, and then underplant the 

 remainder with laurels, privet, rhododendrons, or anything 

 that may be fancied for game cover. But the general 

 practice is to combine a process of gradual thinning until 

 none but a few trees per acre remain, and allow those to 

 stand for an indefinite period. In the meantime grass and 

 other growth gradually cover the surface, and thus arises 

 the gamekeeper's ideal of a wood or plantation. 



Another cause of thin woods may be traced to the mixed 

 plantation system. This system is based on the idea that 

 a certain number of hardwoods will constitute the main crop, 

 and that these should be planted at such a distance apart 



