176 THE NEW FOREST 



should be no selecting of small areas of the best 

 soil only, to the detriment of the commoner. 



Therefore in every plantation was a consider- 

 able area of inferior land some of it, especially 

 in the younger plantations, very bad. About 

 that there was no doubt ; Scotch fir was the only 

 possible crop. Some soil was quite good, and 

 here again oak was without hesitation selected as 

 the proper crop. 



But between these two grades of soil was a 

 very large area which might or might not 

 grow oak to some dimensions at any rate. It 

 was no easy point to decide, and so I found 

 that my predecessors had given the benefit of 

 the doubt to a considerable area of moderate land, 

 and planted oak upon it. 



It is for this reason that, now that the ex- 

 periment has been proved to be a failure, the 

 observer of woods finds so much stunted hope- 

 less oak of fifty years of age. 



I think it was wise to give the oak a chance, 

 since the growth thereof was the primary object 

 in forming the plantation ; but the result is a 

 failure in many of these doubtful cases, and will 

 have to be corrected, some hardier crop, such as 

 Scotch fir, being reverted to. 



