PRESENT CONDITION OF ENGLISH FORESTRY 37 



is over, nothing of a really effectual nature is done unless 

 the strictest orders are given by the proprietor in person, 

 and then only when backed up by threats of punishment 

 in default. The gamekeeper considers rabbits as much 

 worthy of protection and encouragement as pheasants, and, 

 as a good stock of them can be got up without the least 

 trouble to himself, nothing but compulsion will induce him 

 to suppress them. 



Unfortunately for the cause of forestry, very few 

 proprietors realise the enormity of the damage done by 

 rabbits in English woods. It is not alone that they destroy 

 young trees which have not yet acquired a coat of rabbit- 

 proof bark, but they devour millions of seedlings which would 

 otherwise grow up and take the place of mature timber, and 

 which would render the nett returns from woods very much 

 greater than they are at present. To protect trees against 

 large numbers of rabbits entirely precludes the possibility 

 of any profit attending forestry, unless clear felling is 

 resorted to ; and this is often objected to by proprietors who 

 have a sentimental regard for their woods. Even with clear 

 felling, and the netting round of the planted area, it often 

 happens that the netting is removed before the trees are 

 safe from attack, the result being that many of the most 

 valuable species are practically exterminated. Under such 

 conditions the forester has an uphill task at the best, and 

 success is as often a question of accident as of good 

 intention. 



Another feature of modern English forestry is the 

 sentimental value placed upon woods as features in the 

 landscape. This is a feature which even the professional 

 forester can appreciate and sympathise with, for an English 

 landscape is almost unique in European scenery, and one of 

 which every native should be proud. Many estate woodlands 

 have been planted, so far as their situation goes, almost 

 entirely with a view to landscape improvement ; and any 

 clearing on a large scale would, in some cases, temporarily 

 interfere with the effect they produce. Although skill and 

 judgment can easily avoid any disfigurement which might 

 result from wholesale clearing, it is difficult to get proprietors 

 to realise this, and they frequently prefer to leave old woods 



