A HISTORY OF SUSSEX 



deemed especially suitable for the ships of the royal navy, were in much demand. Landowners con- 

 sequently were not without inducement to devote some of their land and their energies to the 

 cultivation of trees. One of the most active in this direction was Lord Sheffield, at Fletching ; so 

 that early in the nineteenth century the stock of fine young oaks in the plantations of the Sheffield 

 Park estate was the largest in the county. 66 Yet he was moved to say, in spite of his evident 

 success, that had he attended to the pruning and management of his woods earlier they would have 

 been worth many thousands more," a remark which, though partaking somewhat of the nature of a 

 platitude, is yet worthy of attention. The writer has seen, only last year, plantations of young 

 trees, chiefly ash and sycamore, where, on the sunny side of a Southdown hill, the growth of tall 

 flowering plants, brambles, and things twining, creeping, innumerable, was so luxuriant that many 

 of the infant trees were dead, and the greater part of the plantation a sight more picturesque than 

 profitable. 



The modern modes of making plantations differ somewhat from those in vogue in the days 

 when Lord Dacre set his four men to seek and to sow acorns. For ' labour ' in the country is now 

 so scarce and expensive that such a method would prove costly in inception, and tardy in result, at 

 least as regards oak trees, as they are slow of growth, and do not produce acorns until fifteen or 

 seventeen years old. Yet it is a valuable wood and always in demand, and if planted more 

 plentifully and expected with patience, will prove profitable to posterity at least. Its modern price 

 is 2s. or 2s. 6d. per foot. Almost equally disused as a method of tree-plantation is that by the 

 collection of self-sown seedlings, as it is dependent to the same degree as acorn collection upon the 

 labour question. Yet it might be advantageously used in the case of such trees as freely form and 

 successfully sow their fruit, as in particular the sycamore a tree in considerable demand for hoops 

 and other bent-wood work, as well as for such higher uses as for making violins ; and above all 

 other trees perhaps it is a quick grower. But almost all planting of trees is now done by the 

 medium of the nursery gardens. 



There is a great local demand for oak in Sussex for making ' shingles ' and park-pales ; which 

 are made by splitting oak to a thickness of an inch, a breadth of 3 or 4 in., and a length, for 

 pales, of 4 to 6 ft. Shingles are sections of these, 5 or 6 in. long, and are used for covering roofs, 

 and in particular church spires. In the reign of Henry VI their price was 22d. per thousand, at 

 which cost 15,000 were sent from the archbishop's woodlands of Mayfield to cover the roof of his 

 manor house at Lambeth. 58 To-day their price is 90;. per thousand. Oak pales are in even more 

 general use in Sussex, and are set on rails between posts, with their edges overlapping. In mediaeval 

 days their price was is. per hundred, 59 to-day the same number would cost 25*. Next to its oaks 

 the beech trees of Sussex are celebrated for their age and size, particularly in the western division of 

 the county, flourishing on the slopes of the Downs, and climbing to their very crests. The high 

 green hill of Chanctonbury is crowned by a clump of beeches nearly 150 years old, planted when no 

 larger than ' twigs ' so he called them by the father of the Rev. John Goring, who lived to cele- 

 brate in song his setting them sixty-eight years before ; a fact that should encourage arboriculturists. 60 

 In more universal use perhaps than beech, the ash is a tree that might be more generally cultivated 

 in Sussex, since it is always in demand for the wooden parts of agricultural implements, the felloes, 

 spokes, and other components of carts and wagons, hoops, and last, not least, hop poles. In some 

 parts of the county there are whole plantations of it ; in others it is grown intermixed with syca- 

 more, and is always set closely, that the natural rivalry to top its neighbour in seeking sunshine and 

 air may draw it up tall and straight. Sussex woods also contain young chestnut trees, for they are more 

 commonly used for hop-poles than any other young timber. Plantations for such use are generally 

 cut when about eleven years old, and usually, in addition to ash and chestnut, contain a considerable 

 amount of birch. The price of hop poles is commonly 3^. each ; in 1781 they were valued at less 

 than a farthing. 61 In the county of the Southdown sheep there has always been a constant demand 

 for hurdles and wattles. To make the former great quantities of hazelwood are used, cut in the 

 coppices and underwoods of the county, wherein perhaps it is the most abundant tree or shrub 

 for it is never allowed to attain to the size of a tree, the underwoods being cut at more or less fre- 

 quent intervals, according to the kind of soil, the climate and the trees, growth of course being more 

 rapid in a rich soil and a warm moist air than in a poor ground or a dry climate, differences which 

 may occur even in the area of one county. 



The pine or Scotch fir and the larch are plentiful in Sussex woods, and almost always planted 

 more for ornament than use as timber, though fine straight larches are objects of culture, and for 

 them there is always a local sale to wheelwrights and carpenters, mainly for making ladders. On 

 the duke of Norfolk's estate there are 50 acres of young larch plantations, out of the total 5,000 

 acres of woodland. Though no new area is afforested there, large quantities of hardwood trees are 



64 Young, Jgric. ofSusi. 469. " Ibid. 



68 Ct. R. Lambeth, No. 1303. M Ibid. No. 1302. 



60 Highways and Byetvays of Suss. 146-7. 61 Suss. Arch. Coll. xlviii, 159. 



300 



