52 SOME TYPES OF BRITISH WOODLANDS. 



fault of the forester as of the gamekeeper, because the former 

 has not succeeded in managing the woods in such a manner 

 that they lend themselves to the preservation of game, and yet 

 yield an adequate revenue from timber and firewood. As 

 matters are in Britain, it is no use crying out against game, 

 because proprietors, rare cases excepted, will not adopt an 

 economic management of their woods, if game is interfered 

 with to any considerable extent. It is the business of the 

 forester to manage the woodlands in such manner that they 

 meet the objects which the proprietor has in view to the 

 fullest extent, and in the most economic manner. The 

 preservation of game being in most cases an important object, 

 the forester must set to work and meet it, without reducing 

 the yield of the woods more than is absolutely unavoidable. 

 There is no reason whatever why both objects should not be 

 obtained, without perpetual warfare between the gamekeeper 

 and the forester. Indeed, there are good reasons why the 

 two offices should be in one hand, since it rests at all times 

 with the proprietor to decide whether the one or other object 

 shall take precedence. What the exact method of treatment 

 should be, cannot be laid down in a general way ; it depends 

 on local conditions, the kind of game to be preserved, and on 

 the extent to which one object is to be sacrificed to the other. 

 Hence, only concrete examples can illustrate how such cases 

 should be dealt with. On this occasion I propose to deal with 

 the sylvicultural treatment of pheasant preserves. 



Pheasants can be reared in woods managed under any 

 sylvicultural system, but it is generally recognised that those 

 systems are best adapted which provide an underwood worked 

 as coppice, and an overwood worked as high forest. The 

 question then is, how should such woods be managed, so that 

 they favour a plentiful and healthy stock of .pheasants, and 

 yet yield a commensurate income by the sale of timber and 

 other wood. Both objects can be obtained by treating such 

 woods under the system known as "coppice with standards," 

 according to an orderly and systematically-arranged plan of 



