171 raising and protecting Oak Plantations. 129 



annual warrants of beech wood for fuel to the owners of adjacent 

 estates, claimed by custom or prescription. 



The crown has the right of fencing in and keeping enclosed any 

 part of the forest, not exceeding 6000 acres at any one time ; 

 but much of the land lies exposed, being barren or boggy, and 

 not adapted to the growth of oak; although it is probable that 

 Scotch pines and pinasters would succeed in great part of such 

 land, if it were enclosed, and the bogs and wet places previously 

 drained. Considerable plantations of oak were made towards the 

 end of the reign of King William III., and in that of Queen Anne, 

 which are now fit for naval purposes, many of the trees contain- 

 ing two loads, or 100 ft., of timber each. From that time down to 

 about the end of the last century, but little was done to improve 

 the forest ; and, as there is scarcely any undergrowth in the open 

 ground, very few young trees are to be seen growing up sponta- 

 neously. Enclosures are therefore necessary to obtain a succession 

 of timber; and good judgment is requisite in the selection of 

 proper pieces of land, and in such an application of them as shall 

 best promote the great national object of a regular supply of oak 

 timber for the navy. 



The attention of the Commissioners of Woods and Forests 

 appears to have been especially directed, for the last twenty years, 

 to the state of the timber in this forest; and several thousands 

 of acres have, within that time, been enclosed expressly for the 

 purpose of raising oaks. 



Where the land was considered generally proper for the growth 

 of oak, plantations of from one hundred to five hundred acres 

 each were made in various ways. 



First, by merely enclosing the land, to preserve from injury 

 such oak saplings as sprang up spontaneously. Of these (which 

 were not very numerous) great part are now short and scrubbed; 

 and there are vacant places of considerable extent throughout the 

 enclosures. 



Secondly, by planting young trees ; viz. some seedlings, with 

 every tenth plant an oak of five years old ; some in alternate rows, 

 with Scotch pines ; others, with every tenth a Scotch pine ; some 

 raised from acorns, and some wholly oak plants of five years 

 old. 



Of the oaks thus planted, particularly the seedlings (which 

 were soon overpowered by the long grass, &c.), many died, and 

 were replaced by others, which met with a similar fate. Those 

 which lived (principally the five-years-old plants) continued 

 many years in a stunted and scrubbed state, and so still remain, 

 except in a few places where the land is of superior quality, and 

 where diey were mixed with the Scotch pine ; but the progress 

 these have made is, cccteris paribus, much less than by the system 

 after mentioned. 



Vol. XIV. —No. 96. k 



