190 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



withe, so that a turn can be taken round the end without 

 breaking it, and the plaiting proceed in the opposite direction. 

 Eod after rod is plaited in, one above the other, in this way 

 until the hurdle has reached its full height of 3 feet or 

 so. The uprights are then trimmed off at one height, and, 

 the hurdle placed on the accumulating pile at his side. A 

 good hurdle-maker should make about a dozen hurdles per 

 day, and at the price of 5s. per dozen, his weekly earnings 

 total up to a respectable sum. 



The hurdle referred to above is known as a " wattled " 

 hurdle, and is the common sort in use throughout the south 

 and west of England, but in other parts what are known as 

 " flake " hurdles are preferred. These are made out of split 

 ash or other poles, and are of a more substantial nature 

 than the wattled type. The heads of these hurdles are 

 mortised, and resemble a rail fence more than the basket- 

 work structure of the other, and are made more often in 

 the yard or workshop of the hurdle-maker than in the 

 woods. Their manufacture is frequently combined with 

 that of crate-making, feeding-troughs for sheep, etc., and 

 hardly comes within the province of woodland work. 



CHARCOAL BURNING. 



Charcoal burning is another ancient practice in English 

 woodlands. It was a charcoal burner's cart on which the 

 body of William Rufus is supposed to have reached 

 Winchester, and it is fairly certain that the profession 

 was a more numerous one in those days than it is now. 

 It is hardly conceivable, in these days of gas and steam, 

 that the entire heat production of the old days depended 

 upon wood and charcoal ; but so it was. The charcoal 

 burner's fires have been credited with the destruction of 

 most of our old forest tracts, for the smelting of iron was 

 done entirely with charcoal at one time, and until sea-coal 

 came into general use. Its use in the domestic life of the 



o 



Middle Ages is well known, for it took the place of the 

 modern fireplace to a great extent, and was used wherever 

 warmth was required. Later on, charcoal was an important 



