FORESTRY 



able except that the timber trees consist of oak, ash, and beech, with an underwood of hazel and 

 ash, which is cropped at from 12 to 20 years of age. Recent plantations amount to about 30 acres 

 of larch. The underwoods and the young plantations suffer from rabbits. There has been very little 

 done in connexion with the woods for some years past, but they are now receiving attention. 



On the Right Hon. the Earl of Ducie's estate (Tortworth, Falfield) in addition to a celebrated 

 pinetum, the woodlands aggregate about 547 acres, and consist mainly of copse-woods of oak, ash, 

 beech, wych elm, larch, Scots pine, and sycamore, while elms form the main hedgerow trees. 

 The more recent plantations consist to a great extent of larch, with some oak and also a 

 little Scots pine. 



The woodlands on the Right Hon. the Earl Bathurst's Cirencester estate comprise about 2,500 

 acres, of which three large woods (Oakley 962 acres, Hailey 496 acres, and Overley 388 acres) 

 form the group known as ' Cirencester Woods.' 1 The remaining 654 acres include Siccaridge, 

 Francombe, Dorvel, Henwood, Sapperton, and other detached and smaller woods and plantations. 

 Besides this there is a considerable quantity of park and hedgerow timber. 



Cirencester Woods have been in existence for some centuries, and the greater part of the area 

 is composed of old woods, the recent plantations being unimportant. 



Allen, first Earl Bathurst (d. 1775), was a notable planter, whose skill was recorded by his 

 friend and frequent guest, Pope, in the following couplet : 



Who then shall grace, or who improve the soil ? 

 Who plants like Bathurst, and who builds like Boyle ? 



His successors have also taken continuous interest in the welfare of their woods. These large 

 woods, composed of beech, with a moderate sprinkling of larch and of oak copse-woods, are syste- 

 matically treated, about 90 acres of coppice being annually felled with a rotation of twenty years, 

 and advantage being then taken to clear also a portion of the timber trees. The detached woods 

 not being in regular crop are treated as circumstances demand, a portion being cut over annually. 

 After the coppice and some of the timber overwood are cleared, bare spaces are planted with 

 beech and larch, or else with ash for coppice. These spaces arise from the removal of branching 

 trees and also from the depredations of ground game when the coppice-stools and seedlings are 

 shooting after the previous cutting. 



Ground game is now treated as vermin, and it is anticipated that gradually the coppice may be 

 brought into a 1 6-year rotation, producing as much as twenty years' growth has hitherto done, and 

 that natural regeneration may to a large extent take the place of artificial re-stocking, which has cost 

 nearly 2 an acre with the necessary protection. 



In forming new plantations it is necessary to use plants of 2 to 3 ft. high, and to set them 3 to 

 4 ft. apart, according to soil and elevation. Owing to the rapid growth of thistles, foulgrass, &c., 

 on this class of land, notching of small plants is impracticable without a great expenditure in hoeing 

 and cleaning, hence pit-planting is usual. The plantations that have succeeded best are those 

 formed on old arable land. Those upon old rough turf, in spite of pains being taken to plant the 

 trees carefully and well, are long in establishing themselves and have required much beating up of 

 blanks. 



The beech and larch timber produced in Earl Bathurst's woods is of exceedingly good quality 

 and is much sought after. Owing to the matrix of beech, the protection afforded to the soil by the 

 coppice, and the resulting deposit of leaf-mould, both beech and larch timber grow rapidly and arc 

 of higher value than timber grown under other circumstances in plantations of more recent origin. 



At present these woods are somewhat thin ; owing to the discouragement of ground game, 

 however, there is no doubt they will shortly be again more fully stocked and will carry more 

 profitable crops. 



On the Stanway estate, near Winchcombe, the property of the Right Hon. the Earl of Wemyss 

 and March, the woodlands consist of about 1,000 acres, of various ages (of which 120 acres are 

 young plantations formed within the last five years) * extending over both undulating hilly land and 

 portions of the Vale. On the hilly ground the crops are principally larch, mixed with spruce, 

 Scots pine, silver fir, beech, ash, wych elm, sycamore, oak, &c. A few Corsican pine have 

 also been planted in recent years, and are doing remarkably well. In the Vale the covers consist 

 principally of old oak trees, beech, a few chestnut, and large spruce, elm, Italian poplar, ash, lime, 

 &c., with underwood of hazel and ash principally. The hedgerow and field timber consist of 

 oak, elm, sycamore, silver fir, Spanish chestnut, ash, and beech. 



1 A well-known Gloucestershire landowner says that ' the large Woodlands on Lord Bathurst's estate are 

 the best managed woods in the county, and the only ones that I know of which for two centuries have been 

 regularly and carefully managed under competent supervision.' Earl Bathurst kindly permits these fine wood- 

 lands to be used for instructional purposes in connexion with the theoretical course in Forestry at the Royal 

 Agricultural College, Cirencester. 



'All details about area, age, &c., given here and in the following pages, refer to conditions in 1901. 



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