330 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



Nothing like these results can, however, be ob- 

 tained unless the woodlands be subjected to well- 

 considered management in the manner above 

 indicated. During the last year or two steps 

 in this direction have been taken by the Com- 

 missioners of Woods and Forests for some of 

 the Crown lands, and by a few of the large 

 landowners in Britain, who recognise the solid 

 advantages that economical treatment promises, 

 more especially with indications already present 

 of considerable enhancement in the market value 

 of clean, well-grown timber. And, as regards 

 the Crown forests, no doubt larger areas would 

 already be subjected to improved treatment but 

 for the circumstance that in many ways the hands 

 of the Commissioners and of their Deputy-Sur- 

 veyors are tied by Acts of Parliament against the 

 clearing of over-mature timber and the enclosure 

 of portions for regeneration or planting, so that 

 they are unable to carry out the various improve- 

 ment schemes which they know to be very desir- 

 able. As an example of this, the Honourable 

 Gerald Lascelles, Deputy-Surveyor of the New 

 Forest, in 1887 gave evidence before the Forestry 

 Committee to the effect that more than 40,000 



