

ENGLISH FORESTRY IN THE PAST 17 



to decide, but it is, we believe, an undoubted fact that the 

 practice of early and heavy thinning, which prevailed in 

 England for fifty or more years, was introduced by Scotch 

 foresters to a greater or less extent. About 1850, Brown, 

 a forester at Arniston, published The Forester, a work which 

 accurately reflected the ideas of his contemporaries on 

 forestry. Considering that The Forester was almost entirely 

 original matter, and that it was written with an almost entire 

 disregard for the opinions of anyone else, it is surprising to 

 find what a large amount of accurate information it contains. 

 It was the first book of any importance which had appeared 

 on forestry for some time, and its appearance was hailed with 

 delight and soon regarded as a text-book on the subject. To 

 disagree with Brown was considered rank heresy, and it is 

 not surprising that Brown's views on planting, thinning, etc., 

 were regarded as absolutely correct, and that the majority 

 of Scotch foresters followed his lead. It is to Brown and 

 his school that we owe the introduction of the mixed planta- 

 tion a system of planting which has led to some of the worst 

 results that could possibly be obtained. This system, 

 although based on economic ideas, ignored the sylvicultural 

 requirements of different species, and the majority of mixed 

 plantations formed within the last fifty years have produced 

 timber of low economic value for that reason. He and his 

 followers erred again in their practice, through an imperfect 

 comprehension of the principles of sylviculture as regards 

 thinning, and they grew timber by arboricultural methods 

 which increased the cost of production without a correspond- 

 ing increase in the value of the crop produced. 



Until within the last twenty years or so, no fresh ideas 

 were instilled into English forestry. The mixed plantation 

 was still the order of the day, free thinning was the rule, and 

 the main features of the " Brown " system of forestry were 

 strictly observed. Pure plantations, when such were planted, 

 invariably consisted of larch, owing to the high value of that 

 tree in the shape of thinnings and poles. The object in 

 many cases was not so much the ultimate production of 

 first-class timber, as the speedy growth of game cover or 

 screens and belts for landscape effect. There was rarely 

 any definite idea as to the object in view, and any system of 



