120 THE NEW FOREST 



" Answer " to the Commissioners of that date, 

 I have formed the opinion that he had no very 

 good grasp of New Forest questions, or indeed 

 had concerned himself very much with them. 

 He states that he has no salary whatever as 

 master keeper or as deputy to the Lord 

 Warden, but as master keeper he occupies the 

 lodge at Rhinefield and a small enclosure 

 round it, of little value (this enclosure was one of 

 42 acres), and I observe that between 1771 and 

 1774 about 530 were spent on repairing and 

 improving the lodge. 



I do not trace what happened to this lodge 

 after Colonel Hey wood's death, but for some 

 time before the date of the Deer Removal Act 

 (1851) it had become the residence of a groom- 

 keeper, and must have been much reduced 

 in size. 



After 1851, when much planting was com- 

 menced, the lodge became the residence of the 

 head nurseryman in charge. " The small en- 

 closure of little value" became a large nursery 

 ground, in which some millions of ordinary forest 

 trees, such as oak, larch, and Scotch fir, were 

 reared and planted out, and besides these, many 

 thousands also of beautiful ornamental trees 

 were successfully grown. Many of these still 

 remain in situ, but the great pinetum at Boldre- 



