CHAPTER XVIII 



THE FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT OF GAME 

 COVERTS 



WHEN we consider that on not a few estates in this country 

 the value of the plantations as game coverts is wellnigh of 

 as much importance as that of the timber produced, it will 

 be readily seen that the successful formation and manage- 

 ment of these is a matter of no small moment to those 

 entrusted with the work. That game-rearing and economic 

 forestry can be advantageously carried on in the same 

 woods is, however, a contention we by no means feel 

 inclined to uphold, and from which, being apart from the 

 subject matter of the chapter, we will for the present stand 

 aloof. 



Game coverts may be divided into two kinds, natural and 

 artificial natural when the woods are kept sufficiently thin 

 to admit of the free growth of bramble, bracken or other 

 native vegetation ; and artificial when the planting of such 

 shrubs as are suitable for underwood is resorted to. 



Natural game coverts, which, by most sportsmen, are 

 considered superior to those artificially formed, can only 

 exist where the plantations are kept well and regularly 

 thinned, so as to admit abundance of both light and air 

 the two principal requisites for the successful growth of 

 natural underwood. Generally speaking, the formation of 

 natural coverts has seldom to be helped, although occasion- 

 ally it is found necessary to assist Nature by the sowing of 

 such seeds as those of gorse, broom, etc., in the thinner and 

 more open portions of the woodlands. This may, however, 

 be considered an exception to the rule, as where the woods 

 are kept sufficiently thin, spontaneous undergrowth is usually 



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