CHAPTEE XII. 



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 well 

 nigh of as much importance as that of the timber produced, 

 it will be readily seen that the successful formation and 

 management of these is a matter of no small moment to 

 those entrusted w T ith the work. As to whether game- 

 rearing and forestry can be advantageously carried on in the 

 same woods is, however, a question 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 suffi ciently thin 

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

 rough 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 occasionally in 

 such coverts we have found it 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 



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