Destruction of Oaks. 289 
‘which occurred twice as long ago. Then before that 
they have a tradition that a still earlier ‘throw ’ took 
place, when the timber chiefly went to the dockyards 
for the building of those wooden walls which held the 
world at bay. These traditions go back, therefore, 
some eighty or a hundred years. One field in 
particular is pointed out where stood a double row or 
avenue of great oaks leading to nothing but a farm- 
stead of the ordinary sort, of which there is not the 
slightest record that it ever was anything but a farm- 
house. Now avenues of great oaks are not planted 
to lead to farmsteads. Besides these, it is said, there 
were oaks in most of the fields—oaks that have long 
since disappeared, the prevalent tree being elm. 
While all these ‘throws’ of timber have suc- 
cessively taken place, no attempt has been made to 
fill up the gaps; no planting of acorns, no shielding 
with rails the young saplings from the ravages of 
cattle. If a young tree could struggle up it could ; 
if not, it perished. At the last two ‘throws,’ 
especially, young trees which ought to have been 
saved were ruthlessly cut down. Yet even now the 
place is well timbered ; so that it is easy to form 
some idea of the forest-like appearance it must have 
presented a hundred years ago, when rows of giant 
oaks led up to that farmhouse door. 
Then there are archeological reasons, which it 
would be out of place to mention, why in very ancient 
days a forest, in all probability, stood hereabouts. It 
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