228 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



regularity, without interfering with its utility for riding, 

 carting, or shooting. On dry ground the avoidance of this 

 defect is simple enough, especially when the rides are cut 

 or trimmed annually, as is usually the case. In nine cases 

 out of ten, however, uniform widths are caused by the work- 

 men themselves, who invariably do work of this kind more 

 or less mechanically, cutting back grass, bracken or other 

 growth, to a regular distance in either case, and cutting off 

 the sides or through the centres of projecting bushes on the 

 same principle that they would trim a hedge. This is 

 particularly noticeable in rides running through under-wood, 

 where the stools nearest the ride on either side are invariably 

 trimmed back in a perpendicular line, which gradually 

 assumes the appearance of a wall of shoots, behind which 

 little or nothing can be seen, and which renders one ride 

 as much like another as one stool of under-wood is like 

 its neighbour. 



But, whether rides run through under-wood or high-wood, 

 the same principle ought to be observed in either case, namely, 

 that these should vary sufficiently in width and straightness, 

 to avoid sameness and monotony. Whatever shrubby growth 

 is on the margins should be allowed to grow practically 

 unchecked, unless it encroaches on the ride to an undesirable 

 extent, when it is better to remove it altogether or cut it to 

 the ground, than to keep trimming it back until it assumes 

 an unnatural appearance, and rises in the shape of a wall. 

 On the margins of rides, again, trees and shrubs should both 

 be represented. It is not unusual to see broad rides from 

 the edges of which ordinary timber trees have been entirely 

 removed, shrubs and specimen trees alone being represented 

 within a chain or so of them. Such rides may be ornamental 

 and appropriate enough in a pleasure ground, but they are 

 certainly not natural in a wood, where one at least expects to 

 find the shade and shelter, afforded by an overarching canopy 

 of foliage, more or less in existence. In fact, that attempt to 

 keep trees at a distance from the ride, so that the latter may 

 be fully exposed to sun and air, simply results in the con- 

 version of the ride into an unnatural hybrid between a glade 

 and a woodland path, which is too narrow and formal for the 

 one, and too wide and regular for the other. As far as the 



