342 REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. 



From my knowledge of this forest I feel convinced 

 that, under the present Act of Parliament, the public 

 money is being thrown away, not intentionally or 

 irom any neglect, but from a want of an intimate 

 knowledge of the peculiarities of the different strata 

 of soil, the length of time I have spent in it affording 

 me the means of general and thorough observation. I 

 defy any surveyor, I care ]iot who he is, to march for 

 a few days through upwards of sixty thousand acres 

 of varying land, and then lay down a general rule of 

 o-uidance for the cultivation of timber. Of this I am 

 perfectly sure ; and, by way of illustration, I will take 

 the large enclosure just fenced in, but not planted, 

 in the neighbourhood of Brochenhurst, extending to 

 Pondhead,— that tliere are sites set out for planting 

 that, had I the direction of such land, should be irri- 

 gated, or certainly left untouched, instead of drained. 

 The oak, to be of any service, must have clay, and 

 a depth for the tap-root ; and there is in this forest 

 a stratum of sand and clay, to either of which a 

 preponderance may be given by the amount of 

 existing moisture. If you drain it, you will dry it 

 into sand ; if you permit it to be wet, the clay will 

 increase. In some of the wettest places there grows 

 some of the finest timber; on the hills, generally, 

 grows much fine timber ; but then there arc many of 

 the hills as wet as the lowlands, while throughout 

 is a diversity of soil for which no one rule can be 

 adopted. The conclusion I have come to is, that 

 like the farming on Tiptree Hall as well as that of 

 Mr. Huxtable, the present account-book of the New 

 Forest will leave. 



"in guise uncivil, 

 A deuced balance with the devil." 



