FORESTRY 



with Scots pine and larch ; the remainder are young plantations formed 

 between 1870 and 1892, and consisting chiefly of mixed hardwoods 

 with Scots pine, spruce and larch as nurses, or else of mixed Scots pine 

 and larch. Only in one instance has larch been planted almost pure in 

 30 acres of a plantation (of 115 acres) formed during 1882 to 1884. 

 The largest wooded tract on the estate consists of a compact block of 

 694 acres of old mixed hardwoods, with some Scots pine and larch, in 

 the parish of Isel. 



In the old plantations dating from the active period of arboriculture 

 towards the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nine- 

 teenth, the chief aim seems to have been the growth of oak for ship- 

 building, and this object was apparently sought to be attained by growing 

 it along with sycamore, beech, ash and larch. In the younger planta- 

 tions formed during the last thirty years larch has been largely planted 

 along with Scots pine, spruce and birch, probably with a view to secur- 

 ing a very quick growing and early maturing crop ; but the larch has 

 unfortunately become much affected with the cankerous disease due to 

 the fungus Peziza Willkommii, so that a great many of them have had 

 to be cut out. In some instances these premature clearances have been 

 so extensive as to necessitate the replantation of such parts with Scots 

 pine. In this locality the cultivation of birch pays fairly well, the wood 

 being much in demand for making the soles of clogs. 



The method of management adopted with regard to the older woods 

 is the customary British system of thinning the crops. This is done 

 regularly, the oak-trees being peeled and the bark sold to local tanners. 

 The price of bark has during late years ranged from 4 51. o</. to 

 5 oj. od. a ton, which, though nothing like so favourable to growers as in 

 past times, is higher than the recent prices obtaining in many of the 

 other parts of England. Sometimes a few acres of hardwoods are clear- 

 felled and replanted with Scots pine, spruce and birch, while shoots are 

 allowed to spring up from oak-stools and are afterwards cut for their 

 bark and the small wood they yield. 



Pit planting is the method usually practised on the Brayton estate, 

 but T shaped notching (with close planting at about three feet apart, or 

 4,840 per acre) is occasionally adopted when planting on grass land. 

 Blanks are filled during the first and second years, and early thinnings 

 commence at from 1 5 to 20 years, after which they are repeated every 

 six to eight years. Where the ultimate crop is intended to consist of 

 hardwoods, these are of course specially favoured during the thinnings, 

 and occasional pruning is also done to repair defects in the way of 

 forked growth. 



But some of the smaller estates also possess woodlands of an ex- 

 tremely interesting character. In this respect none surpass the old oak- 

 woods and the more recent larch plantations on the Castlerigg and 

 Derwentwater estates, the property of R. Dykes Marshall, esq., by 

 whose father they were acquired on the sale of the forfeited Derwent- 

 water property by the trustees of Greenwich Hospital. Some of the 

 n 505 64 



