72 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



Clearance and change have been made even since 

 the days of the song of the Outlaw Murray , when 

 it could be said that 



' Ettrick forest is a fair forest, 

 In it grows many a semelie trie ; 

 The hart, the hynd, the doe, the roe, 

 And of a' beastes great plentie.' 



With the accession of the Stuart dynasty to the 

 English throne the work of clearance of wood- 

 lands for agricultural and pastural purposes, 

 already in rapid action since the statute of 

 1483, went on apace with increasing energy. 

 While commanding his ' loving subjects ' to store 

 oak standels when felling their timber, James I. 

 also greatly encouraged the clearance of woods 

 for utilisation as arable land, and stimulated 

 what was then considered progress in a rather 

 laudable work. In Ireland especially, his 'plan- 

 tations ' or colonising schemes were certainly the 

 direct cause of quickly reducing the area under 

 woodland. The movement in this direction was 

 further stimulated by the chronic impecuniosity 

 of Charles I., and the agricultural policy of Crom- 

 well. Not- only did Charles alienate by grant, 

 to court favourites and for ready money, large 



