xxii EVELYN'S "SYLVA" AND PRESENT TIMES 



arouse once again the " Spirit of Planting." The fol- 

 lowing extract from his " Notes," penned 140 years 

 ago, might almost have been written for the present 

 time : 



" The wants of the nation call for this supply. How 

 many thousand acres of waste land are there in this 

 kingdom, that at this present time produce nothing, 

 but may be profitably improved by planting ! Did 

 men of large possessions but rightly consider this, they 

 would carefully look over their estates, search out 

 every useless bog, and plant it with poplars and other 

 aquatics. They would examine all the waste grounds 

 and set apart some for the cottagers, and apply the 

 most barren and useless for plantations. Was such a 

 generous spirit to prevail, we should hear few persons 

 complaining that their ancient common rights are 

 invaded, and that their extreme necessities have 

 obliged them to emigrate to countries far less hospitable 

 than their own. " 



That Evelyn had commercial forestry in view, in 

 the interests of the national welfare, and not merely 

 the formation of plantations for sporting or amenity 

 purposes, is evidenced by the following remarks on the 

 subject of obtaining the new woods: 



'* To attend now a spontaneous supply " {i.e. from 

 natural regeneration) '* of these decayed materials 

 (which is the vulgar and natural " — and, he might have 

 added, the cheapest — " way) would cost (besides the 

 inclosure) some entire ages repose of the plow, though 

 bread doth indeed require our first care : therefore the 

 most expeditious and obvious method would doubt- 

 less be one of these two ways, sowing or planting. 



m 



