A HISTORY OF DORSET 



and this too arises from their being planted in nurseries, and of too large a size. The soil on the 

 tops of the hills is particularly well adapted to the growth of beech, and oak would not fail to grow, 

 provided there was a sufficient mixture of firs to shelter them in their infancy. 



A revised and much extended report on the county, under the editorship of William Stevenson, 

 was issued by the Board of Agriculture in i8i2. The statement as to the scarcity of timber is 

 repeated, and the quantity was said to be continually diminishing. The Vale of Blackmoor, very 

 woody in former times, had merely hedgerow timber. Exclusive of woods and timber in parks, 

 preserved for ornament, and therefore 'of little use to the public, there were only seventeen parishes 

 that had timber woods, and many of them but thinly stored and chiefly underwood.' They were : 

 Abbotsbury, 50 acres of oak timber ; Charborough, 10 ; Fifehead Neville, 60; Hawkchurch, 50 ; 

 trees worth ^^5 each ; Chilton, 100 ; Hilton, 70 ; Sydling St. Nicholas, 100 ; Symondsbury, 20, 

 some young and thriving ; Stalbridge, 90 ; Stock Gaylard, 60 ; Stourton Caundle, 65 ; Sturminster 

 Newton, 100 ; Tarrant Gunville, 250, ash and oak; Tarrant Monkton, 50 ; West Chelborough, 

 40 ; Winterborne Clenston, 320, 40 of which have some fine ash ; and Winterborne Whitchurch, 

 44 acres, but only about five timber trees. This enumeration is under 1,500 acres ; but there 

 were in addition a number of copses, almost entirely of hazel, on the chalky soils. These copses 

 were cut at about six or seven years old, for the purpose of hurdle making, without splitting the 

 hazel. Some interesting information is given as to success in plantations of Scotch firs. 



It is of much interest to note that the attention given to arboriculture and the principles of 

 modern forestry during the last quarter of a century have brought about a steady and by no means 

 inconsiderable increase in the acreage occupied by woodlands. This increase during the decade 

 ending 1905 shows an additional area of 52,483 acres given up to woods and coppices throughout 

 England and Wales. In this growth Dorset has taken its full share. The acreage of this county 

 given up to woods was in 1888, 30,808; in 1891, 31,457; in 1895, 37,615; and in 1905, 

 38,869. The agricultural returns of 1905 adopted an improved method of subdividing the wood- 

 land ; they show that Dorset possesses 19,937 acres of coppice, that is of woods periodically felled 

 and reproduced from the old stools; 1,366 acres of plantations, or woods planted within the last 

 fifteen years, and 'other woods' which have an acreage in this county of 17,516, giving the full 

 total of 38,869. Dorset cannot, however, be considered a well-wooded county, as its area is 

 624,341 acres. 



For the most part its recent increase in woodland has been effected tor landscape or game 

 purposes ; there is but very little arboriculture on commercial lines, save on parts of Cranborne 

 Chase and at Selwood, to the north of Shaftesbury. There are also considerable oakwoods at 

 Marshwood in the west of the county, the timber of which is considered to be of inferior quality. 

 In several parts of the Vale of Blackmoor, notably at Holnest and Mappowder, there are some 

 exceptionally fine oaks. The elm grows to a great size in the neighbourhood by Beaminster and 

 Bridport. The climate is so mild in the south-west, about Abbotsbury, that in recent years semi- 

 tropical trees and plants have been found to flourish as in the Scilly Isles. 



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