A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



half a century nothing more seems to have been done. Other 230 

 acres were planted in 1750, and 2,044 acres enclosed in 1776 ; and 

 these 3,296 acres appear to have been all the area dealt with under the 

 Act of 1698. So slow was the progress made, however, that it was not 

 until the year 1864 that the full powers of this Act were exhausted. In 

 that year the last enclosure taking in the full 12,000 acres was made ; 

 but before that date some few plantations had been formed under the 

 Deer Removal Act of 1851, and thus the proceedings under the latter 

 act to some extent overlapped those taken under the earlier enactment. 



The timber found fit for the use of the navy in 1608 was 123,927 

 trees (see p. 442), but after a century of waste and neglect this stock 

 had dwindled down to 12,476 trees in 1707. By 1789, despite the 

 provisions of William III.'s Act of 1698, the destruction of fences and 

 the damage done by deer and cattle were so great that nothing short of 

 a new Act of Parliament could be hoped to restore the forest to its 

 ancient condition for the production of navy timber. 



As might of course be expected, Gilbert White had some interesting 

 remarks to make in connection with the forests and the timber trees 

 towards the end of the eighteenth century, throughout what he calls the 

 ' woody and mountainous ' district of Selborne, where the men were wont 

 to ' fell and bark timber ' in addition to working in the fields and hop- 

 gardens. His letters Nos. i., ii., and vi. to ix. to Thomas Pennant each 

 contain special references to one or other of the forests and to timber 

 trees. Thus he tells us that ' As the parish still inclines down towards 

 Wolmer Forest, at the juncture of the clays and sand, the soil becomes a 

 wet, sandy loam, remarkable for timber, and infamous for roads. The 

 oaks of Temple and Blackmoor stand high in the estimation of pur- 

 veyors, and have furnished much naval timber.' 1 And again he describes 

 how at that time, on another part of the Earl of Selborne's estate, long 

 since converted into pasture, ' On the Blackmoor estate there is a small 

 wood called Losel's, of a few acres, that was lately furnished with a set 

 of oaks of a peculiar growth and great value ; they were tall and taper 

 like firs, but standing near together had very small heads, only a little 

 brush without any large limbs. About twenty years ago the bridge at 

 the Toy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, some trees were 

 wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long without bough, and would 

 measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees did 

 a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, that many of 

 them answered the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for 

 twenty pounds apiece.' 2 Losels, however, is no longer woodland. 



In writing of the royal forest of Wolmer, he describes it as ' a tract 

 of land of about seven miles in length, by two and a-half in breadth, 

 running nearly from north to south. . . . This royalty consists entirely 

 of land covered with heath and fern ; but is somewhat diversified with 

 hills and dales, without having one standing tree in the whole extent.' 3 

 And in discoursing elsewhere on the perambulation of 163 5, he says that 



1 Letter i. * Letter ii. Letter vi. 



452 



