FORESTRY 



In 1 58 1 (23 Eliz. cap. 5) An Act touching Iron Mills near unto the city 

 of London, and the River of Thames was passed for prohibiting the conver- 

 sion of woods and underwoods into fuel for iron-smelting within 22 miles 

 of London or of the river Thames ; but the Act was specially made not 

 to apply to parts of the Weald of Surrey, Sussex or Kent, 18 miles or 

 more from London, and 8 miles or more from the Thames ; and it 

 further exempted ' any Woods or Underwoods now standing or grow- 

 ing, or which shall hereafter stand or grow, in or upon any lands of 

 Christopher Darrell Gentleman in the Parish of Newdigate, within the 

 Weild of the County of Surrey ; which woods of the said Christopher 

 have heretofore been and be by him preserved and coppiced for the Use 

 of his Iron Works in those Parts.' 



In 1585 (27 Eliz. cap. xix.) An Act for the Preservation of Timber 

 in the Wilds of the Counties of Sussex, Surrey and Kent, and for the Amendment 

 of Highways decayed by Carriages to and from Iron Mills there was passed, 

 prohibiting the conversion of good timber trees into charcoal for iron 

 smelting, because ' it is thought that the great Plenty of Timber which 

 hath grown in those parts hath been greatly decayed and spoiled, and 

 will in short Time be utterly consumed and wasted, if some convenient 

 Remedy therein be not timely provided.' So long as the great woods 

 were still in existence on the Surrey, Sussex and Kent Weald, iron was 

 largely produced in these counties. But the discovery of coal and the 

 opening of mines in the north, coupled with the exhaustion of 

 supplies of wood for charcoal in the south, caused the iron trade of 

 the latter to dwindle away. Smelting furnaces gradually became ex- 

 tinguished, the last of them being closed at Ashburnham in Sussex in 

 1809, 



It was apparently about the beginning of the seventeenth century 

 that planting was first practised, and perhaps mainly in consequence of 

 sowing frequently proving unsuccessful on account of mice : — 



'Many say that they have set Akornes, Beech -maste, Chestnuts, and other seeds 

 of wood, kernels, and stones of fruit that never came up, which can allege no other 

 reason but that they were devoured by Field-mice, for so they show themselves being 

 snouted like a swine, or a moule, which the House-mice be not . . . The remedy 

 for such as would raise plants is by nurseries, where the mice may be destroyed by 

 traps.' * 



During Queen Elizabeth's reign surveys were made to ascertain the 

 stock of oak timber in all the royal forests throughout England, and in 

 1608, during James I.'s reign, another survey was made 'in the Forests, 



after each time of cutting the coppice, in place of only for three years as seems to have been customary 

 before then. In 154.3 iin Act for the Presewation of Woodlands ordered 'twelve standils or stores of 

 oak ' or other trees per acre to be left grovi^ing at each time of cutting over the coppices, and provided 

 for enclosure and fencing during the next four to six years, according as the rotation was below or above 

 fourteen yean. In 1570 the time permitted for enclosure was increased by two years in each case. 



* Arthur Standish's New Directions of Experience for the Increasing of Timber and Fireuioid, ed. 2 

 (16 1 5), 8th page of preface, 



567 



