168 THE NEW FOREST 



all this growth dates back to no longer than 150 

 years. 



That it was indigenous to the South of Eng- 

 land in prehistoric times is proved by fossil re- 

 mains, but it would appear to have completely 

 died out for a period possibly of aeons and then 

 to have been reinstated not two centuries ago by 

 the hand of man. At any rate it thrives wonder- 

 fully in the thin poor soil of the New Forest, 

 on land which will grow nothing else, and seems 

 to have been specially designed by nature to 

 clothe these barren wastes. 



Its propagation became more and more fre- 

 quent in New Forest as its value became ap- 

 parent, and, passing on to another series of 

 woods, viz. the oak plantations of 1805 to 1815, 

 we find a deep shelter belt of Scotch firs round 

 every plantation, and also shelter lines planted 

 here and there right across the wood, so as to 

 break the prevailing winds. 



There is a pretty good area of woods of this 

 class roundly about 6000 acres and some of them 

 are fine timber, such, for instance, as Amberwood, 

 Ocknell, Hurst Hill, or Rhinefield Sandys, and 

 Aldridge Hill. 



It is very interesting to trace the growth of 

 methods of forestry by examining this series of 

 woods. They appear to have certainly been 



