FORESTRY 



parts of the county, drainage is often necessary before planting can be 

 carried out with any reasonable chance of proving successful. This adds 

 considerably to the expense of planting, which is further increased 

 greatly by the necessity for wire-fencing against rabbits. The earlier 

 plantations of fifty to a hundred years ago had not this difficulty to con- 

 tend with, and this alone makes a very considerable difference in the 

 cost of fresh plantations nowadays. 



' The New Domesday Book ' or Parliamentary Return of Owners of 

 Land in England and Wales, 1873, giving the acreage and rental value 

 of the lands held by the various owners, expressly states that in the 

 details compiled ' no account is taken of those waste lands, the area of 

 which could not be ascertained, of woods other than saleable underwoods,' 

 etc., and no other statistics have ever been collected or published either 

 officially or unofficially ; hence no statement can be made as to the 

 total extent of the oakwoods, larchwoods, etc., on individual estates or 

 even throughout the county generally. Most of the woods are to be 

 found on the largest estates, which are owned by the Earl of Carlisle 

 (Naworth Castle), the Earl of Lonsdale (Lowther Castle), Sir Richard 

 Graham, bart. (Netherby Hall), H. Howard, esq. (Greystoke Castle), 

 and Lord Leconfield (Cockermouth Castle). 



From an arboricultural point of view the Netherby estate, the property 

 of Sir Richard Graham, bart., on the river Esk about ten miles north of 

 Carlisle, is one of the most interesting in the county. The property con- 

 sists of 26,000 acres, of which about 2,800 acres are plantations exclu- 

 sive of ornamental clumps, park, timber and hedgerow trees comprising 

 about 1,000 acres from 100 to 150 years old, 1,300 acres 'from 50 to 

 90 years, and about 500 acres under fifty years of age. These woods 

 are all enclosed with fencing aggregating about 300 miles in length. 

 Although not more than 150 to 200 feet above the sea-level, most of 

 the land planted was not worth more than five shillings to seven shillings 

 and sixpence an acre for agricultural occupation, and drainage, prepara- 

 tory to planting, cost about seven shillings an acre. The usual plan 

 followed was to cut open drains, 2\ feet wide at top and 2 to i\ feet 

 deep, at a distance of 8 to 12 yards according to the degree of wetness 

 of the land. 



The better tracts were planted with a mixture of oak, ash, elm, 

 sycamore, larch, silver fir, Scots pine, spruce, and a few lime, maple, 

 chestnut, and horse chestnut, while the black-topped or peaty lands were 

 planted with Scots pine, spruce, and birch. February and March were 

 found to be the best months for planting, all the larger-rooted hardwoods 

 being set in pits of about 12 to 14 inches square and one foot deep, 

 while smaller-rooted hardwoods and conifers were simply notched into 

 the ground. The plants were put in 3 to 3^ feet apart (3,556 to 4,840 

 per acre), and the whole cost of planting seldom exceeded 5 an acre. 

 Where hares and rabbits were numerous, the plantations had to be 

 specially protected by wire-netting for six to eight years, and in such 

 cases of course this added very materially to the cost of protection. 



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