172 THE NEW FOREST 



the fact that owing to the regeneration that has 

 taken place, the ground will not be " wholly 

 levelled or cleared," but that a " sufficient number 

 of the best trees" will be left on the land, so 

 that, in this case, sentiment and practical forestry 

 can for once walk hand in hand. 



After the plantations of the date of round 

 about 1815, there was rather a lull in the 

 planting of the New Forest. A certain number 

 of plantations were formed in the period 1840- 

 1850, but they are not of very great importance. 

 In them is to be noticed the advance of the 

 Scotch fir, and its more frequent use as a nurse 

 and for a belt. Of these plantations are such as 

 King's Hat Foxhunting Enclosure (why so called 

 I never could divine) and Fletcher's Thorns. 



But now we come to the period of the great 

 impetus in planting caused by the Deer Removal 

 Act of 1850, and this resulted, despite the check 

 so speedily placed upon its powers, in the enclos- 

 ing and planting of about 10,000 acres. The 

 first process was to complete the powers conferred 

 by the Act of William III in 1698, and to take 

 in the whole of the 12,000 acres authorised there- 

 by. Accordingly, such plantations as Oakley 

 and Islands Thorns were made great woodlands 

 now of some 600 or 700 acres each, and for the 

 most part very promising young woods. These 



