58 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



meaning of our statutes by cutting and felling the 

 young stores when they usually fell their under- 

 woods.' And he set an excellent example by 

 laying down a rule for the New Forest, that in 

 the ordinary annual falls for fuel, &c., 'all 

 timber trees are to be excepted, and all saplings 

 of Oak that are likely to make timber, and that 

 twelve standels be left in every acre.' 



Much the same thing probably happened in 

 Ireland, though neither that country nor Scotland 

 has yet had its Manwood to trace and record 

 in detail the gradual evolution of the forest laws. 

 Harbouring the Irish, the woods were a source of 

 danger to the English nobles, and everything was 

 done to effect their destruction ; while from the 

 very circumstances of English rule in Ireland 

 there could be no royal forests reserved for the 

 king's amusement. 



That the Scottish laws relating to forests 

 were nothing like so ancient as those of Eng- 

 land seems clear. ' There is, probably, no 

 Scotch writing extant,' says the Preface to 

 the Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland, pub- 

 lished by royal command in 1844, 'whether of 

 Charter, Record, or Chronicle, so old as the reign 



