LIFE IN THE NEW FOREST 



891 



late spring morning, the ringing sound of 

 the axe falls upon one's ear, and a turn in 

 the drive discloses one of the foresters 

 busy lopping the branches of a recently 

 felled tree. 



One of the most picturesque Forest 

 industries is that of felling the young oak 

 trees in the spring, for the purpose, chiefly, 

 of collecting the bark, which ultimately 

 finds its way to the tanyards. It is looked 

 forward to by the foresters with a good 

 deal of pleasure, because it jaelds them a 

 small extra royalty on their ordinary 

 wages, and it is a pleasant sight to see 

 with what a will the sturdy fellows engage 

 in their work. 



The moment the tree is felled to the 

 ground some of the men set to work to lop 

 off the branches, while others, with the aid 

 of their barking irons, begin to strip the 

 bark from the trunk and larger limbs. 



While the barking is proceeding, one of 

 the foresters may be seen rapidly con- 

 structing a frame with the smaller branches 

 at a httle distance from the tree ; and 

 against, and upon, this frame the bark is 

 placed to dry. The length of this process 

 is determined by chmatic conditions, but 

 if the spring be a genial one, the bark 



remains on the drying screens for about 

 ten days. 



When the bark is ready to be sent to 

 the tanyards, the foresters go through 

 the drives with their carts to collect it. 

 The bark is gathered into bundles, and 

 each bundle is weighed before being placed 

 on the cart. When the carts have been 

 filled they nunble away through the 

 Forest glades to the nearest railway 

 station, and from thence the bark finds 

 its way all over England into those tan- 

 yards which make a speciahty of oak 

 bark tanning. 



Towards the close of the summer, and 

 during the autumn, the heavy lumbering 

 waggons may be seen passing down the 

 roads, laden with the trunks of the 

 trees from which the bark had been 

 stripped in the spring, on their way to 

 the sawmills. 



The people of the New Forest are a 

 sturdy, self-rehant race ; the Saxon strain 

 remaining strong in them, and one finds 

 them still using old Saxon terms. 



Curiously enough, although one would 

 imagine such an environment as the New 

 Forest, with its deep, silent woods and 

 large tracts of lonely, marshy moorland, 



■^hlGHING AND CAKiING lllE OAK BARK. 



