THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES. 211 



sand acres, and belongs to the Crown. Remains of other 

 forests in the county are still to be met with. 



The character of Hampshire, then, is a country of 

 ancient forests and heather. The heather supplies food 

 for a race of smaU but excellent sheep, known as Bagshot 

 sheep. The oak forests, similar to those described in the 

 novel of Ivanhoe, provide food in like manner for herds 

 of swine, which furnish excellent bacon, that of Hamp- 

 shire having still the highest reputation. This county, 

 although to a certain extent modified by cultivation, still 

 retains much of its original aspect ; there are plenty of 

 fine trees in it, and large tracts of heather and wood are 

 to be met with. The New Forest is famous for its wild 

 scenery. Eents there are low enough, the average being 

 1 5s. per acre ; but this low average is caused by the 

 quantity of inferior land producing nothing but woods 

 or bad pasture. The population, more numerous cer- 

 tainly than might be supposed, considering the nature 

 of the land, amounts to about one head for every three 

 acres. It is true, a portion of their means of livelihood 

 comes from extraneous sources, and that more so even 

 than in Kent. The ports of Southampton and Ports- 

 mouth, the one commercial, the other military, are places 

 of great activity. 



In the poorer districts, single farms contain as much 

 as one thousand, two thousand, and three thousand acres. 

 In the southern part of the county they are less, rang- 

 ing from about one hundred to five hundred acres. The 

 large farms are almost entirely devoted to sheep, and 

 the race has been greatly increased in number, though 

 not improved in the quality of the meat. The race of 

 pigs is no longer that tall, active, and strong race of for- 

 mer days, but one that fattens better and more quickly. 



The New Forest, with Windsor Forest in Berkshire, 



