THE ENGLISH FORESTER 315 



called upon during the holding of the Forest Courts. The 

 exact nature of his duties is not very clearly defined, but 

 in all probability they were connected with the supply of 

 timber, firewood, and other forest produce, for which grants 

 were given, or which was demanded by the commoners in or 

 around the forest. The first indication of a modern forester, 

 outside the office of this individual, is comparatively recent. 

 When enclosed estates were small, and the area of woodland 

 on them limited, it is scarcely probable that employment 

 could be found for such a man, and we must therefore come 

 down to the period of enclosures, and the economic develop- 

 ment of private estates, before we can find much trace of 

 him. 



In the eighteenth century, when landscape gardening 

 began to occupy the attention of estate owners, it was the 

 custom to call in some authority on that art, and the latter 

 more or less performed the duties of forester, so far as 

 planting was concerned. It was sometimes customary for 

 the landscape gardener to contract for the whole work of 

 improvement, the owner finding horses, material, etc., 

 according to the nature of the work. The avenues planted 

 by de Notre in the seventeenth century were chiefly elm, 

 and the work was probably done under the gardener's 

 supervision, with the assistance of a staff of ordinary 

 labourers. "Capability" Brown at a later period did a 

 great deal of his work in this way, and it is almost certain 

 that early professors of the art, if they did not contract, 

 at any rate chose the species of tree and method of 

 planting it. 



In fact, up to the end of the eighteenth century we can 

 find no evidence that men were employed above the rank of 

 labourer for the express purpose of taking charge of the 

 woods of an estate. One reason may be found in the fact 

 that estate woods previous to that time were not extensive, 

 for it was not until the middle of the century that the great 

 development of large landed properties took place. Few 

 estates had more than a thousand acres under wood, and much 

 of that was worked on a system which required little skill 

 beyond what a working woodman could supply. Most of 

 the supervision which is now performed by the head forester 



