346 THE BOOK OF THE LANDED ESTATE. 



SECTION 2. The general System of Managing Plantations. 



The general system of managing plantations, from their first formation 

 to the time they come to maturity, is, at the very least, antiquated and 

 defective. There are many estates in this country where the woodlands 

 are properly attended to and managed as they ought to be, and these 

 cases are becoming more plentiful every year ; but taking the science 

 of arboriculture as a whole, we cannot consider ourselves as being so 

 far advanced in it as in that of agriculture and horticulture. From a 

 very early date the sister branches of agriculture and horticulture have 

 been making rapid progress, while that of arboriculture has only made 

 very slow progress compared with the others. There are many reasons 

 why arboriculture has not -kept pace with the sister branches. One 

 reason is, the length of time that has to pass before any direct pecuniary 

 returns are received for timber. Landed proprietors generally consider 

 that if they plant, they are doing so for the benefit of the next generation, 

 and with no immediate benefit to themselves. This, no doubt, is true to 

 a certain extent, as it falls to the lot of very few to reap the full benefit 

 from a crop of trees which they have planted themselves ; and yet the 

 generality of landed proprietors enter to their estates with a certain 

 amount of old timber on them, from which they reap a profit where they 

 did not plant, and it therefore becomes every landed proprietor 'to plant 

 a reasonable extent of their estates with trees, to keep up the succession. 



Another reason why a large extent of our woods and plantations is 

 neglected, is the preservation of game. A great many proprietors who 

 are strict game-preservers and of course all gamekeepers think that they 

 cannot keep up a good stock of game where the woods are attended to in 

 the way of thinning, &c. in fact, many landed gentlemen have stated 

 to me that they know their plantations were not kept in such a profitable 

 state as they would wish to see them ; but, on the other hand, they con- 

 sidered that, if they ever attempted to improve the plantations, then the 

 cover would be completely spoiled. This, in my opinion, is a mistake, 

 as I shall show in the section of this chapter on the maintaining of a 

 stock of game along with the proper management of woods. 



Another drawback to the advancement of arboriculture is the employ- 

 ment of men who know little or nothing about the management of woods 

 and plantations. I know that some landed proprietors have stated 

 that their woods and plantations are not remunerative, and consequently 

 they consider it a useless expense to give a really good man a fair salary 

 to look after their woods; but this is just the very reason why the woods 



