304 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



the time of planting to see that it was properly done ; and after the ground 

 was fully planted with acorns it was sown with haws, holly berries, sloes, and 

 hazel nuts, drains were cut where necessary, and traps were set to catch mice, 

 and persons attended daily to reset the traps and to keep off crows and other 

 vermin." 



Whether from subsequent neglect or not, the plantations thus formed were 

 never thinned at all, but allowed to grow up like a nursery quarter. Although 

 contrary to every theory of plantation management, it cannot be denied that 

 they were in this bad soil successful in growing a heavy crop of oak timber on 

 moderate land. 



Denny Enclosure. — There are some very good examples of natural regeneration 

 in places in this wood, which was reinclosed in 1870. A photograph was sent 

 which contrasts the young growth inside the fence of the enclosure with the bareness 

 of the outside where the cattle graze. 



Salisbury Trench. — This plantation was made in or about the year 1700, and 

 measures about 100 acres. It was thrown open under an order dated 20th August 

 1807. It is calculated that there are now left after frequent thinning about sixty 

 trees to the acre. Two years ago it was reinclosed with a view to its gradual 

 regeneration, and there is already a large number of young oak and beech coming 

 up in the open spaces. 



North and South Bentley. — These plantations were made about the same time, 

 probably just before that of Salisbury Trench, and are o{ the same character, except 

 that there is some beech here and there in North Bentley. During the past twenty 

 years the trees felled in Salisbury Trench, being for the most part the poorest ones, 

 have averaged 23!- cubic feet ; and there now remain about sixty to the acre. In 

 North Bentley they have averaged about 25 cubic feet, in South Bentley 29 cubic 

 feet, and about sixty trees to the acre remain standing. 



One of the best private oak plantations of which the exact age is known is on 

 the property of Lord Kesteven at Banthorpe, near Casewick, Lincolnshire. It was 

 made by Sir John Trollope, grandfather of the present owner, in 1800, with acorns 

 which had to be sown a second time, as they were eaten by mice in 1799. It is on 

 good soil, and, as near as I could judge by the eye, contains about sixty trees to 

 the acre, straight for the most part, and clean up to 30 to 40 feet. In 1905 twelve 

 average trees in the plantation had an average timber length of 34 feet, an average 

 quarter girth of 18 inches, and contained 903 cubic feet without tops or branches, which 

 would make my rough estimate of 5000 feet to the acre very nearly correct, and if 

 profit alone were considered I should say that these trees had now reached the 

 proper age for felling. 



The late Mr. John Glutton, who valued timber for the Crown for many years, 

 gave.i in 1873, particulars of the size of oaks. 



' Transac/ions of the Stii-veyors' Institution, 1873-74, vol. vi. 



