46 THE NEW FOREST 



the exact amount decided that was to be spent, 

 or obtained, from each section of plantation or of 

 open Forest, the routine work was carried out by 

 my assistants, and very ably they did it. Each 

 month they produced the several pay lists and 

 sale books showing exactly what wages were due 

 to each man, and what money had been obtained 

 from the sales of minor produce, such as fern, 

 faggots and the like, and I then handed over the 

 cash that was due to each set of labourers. Pay 

 day, once a month, was always a very busy day. 



In addition, I had to be constantly up and 

 down in the Forest giving my personal attention 

 to details I did not care to leave to any other 

 person, such as the marking of any good timber 

 that was rather more than mere routine thinning. 

 The repairs and improvements to cottages were 

 matters that I always kept under my personal 

 superintendence. I am bound to say that when 

 I came to the Forest in 1880, I found most of 

 the labourers' cottages in a very deplorable con- 

 dition. The accommodation was what we all term 

 now a scandal. It was quite normal in those 

 days, except on very well managed estates. 



How the fine fellows that fought our wars 

 in the Peninsula, and in the Crimea, could have 

 been reared in such miserable overcroweded tene- 

 ments is really incomprehensible. It could only 



