156 PHEASANTS 



to attain any proficiency in its conduct. 

 Certainly where forest areas of great 

 extent have to be dealt with, and felling 

 and replanting events of annual occurrence, 

 there is much to be said for their'conten- 

 tion ; our intelligent amateur might well 

 lack the technical knowledge necessary 

 for efficient supervision. 



But these are quite exceptional cases, 

 and we are largely concerned with estates 

 where simple care is all that is requisite 

 to maintain the normal standard of well- 

 being in the woods, sometimes for half 

 a life-time at a stretch, and during these 

 long periods of slow growth it is difficult 

 to understand how the average wood of 

 this country could suffer any appreciable 

 deterioration under the rule of the modern 

 keeper. 



In outlining the general policy to be 

 pursued, in making a working plan of the 

 woods, in determining the most profitable 

 crop to plant, in measuring growing timber 

 or in dealing with some problem requiring 

 scientific knowledge to unravel, expert 



