FORESTRY 



with some ash and alder. There are no trees of any great age or size. Planting and thinning have 

 been greatly neglected.^'* 



On the Clifton Hall estate around Lytham the woods are of small extent and have been planted 

 for the sake of shelter. There is little coppice or underwood. 



Between 1817 and 1830 a large amount of planting was done by the late Mr. Thomas Fitz- 

 herbert-Brockholes on the Claughton estate, near Garstang. These well-managed woods cover an 

 area of 260 acres and contain some well-grown oaks, while ash grows well to a certain age, but has a 

 tendency to incipient decay before reaching any great size. Alder is said to be the wood of the 

 district, growing well and coming to maturity much more rapidly than other wood.^^" 



On Capt. Ormrod's estate in Nether Wyresdale the woodlands approximate to 300 acres, and 

 on Lord Sefton's Over Wyresdale estate to 275 acres. On the latter the timber for the most part 

 is not of great age or growth, although fine specimens of Scotch fir and beech are to be found. For 

 some years the original coppice woods have not been felled, but oak and ash have been left to grow 

 from the stools, the spray being thinned at intervals with the intention of converting the former 

 coppices to woodland. This practice is becoming general in north Lancashire, and promises to con- 

 vert what has lately been the most unprofitable part of an estate into a revenue-producing adjunct. 

 Larch does not thrive in this locality, but oak, alder, beech, and sycamore flourish.^'' Scotch firs 

 were a notable feature of the district as far back as the days of the itinerant Leland. 



On the Hornby Castle estate the woodlands consist of hardwood timber and coppice mixed 

 300 acres, hardwood and larch 45 acres, the same with Scotch fir and coppice intermixed 7 1 acres, 

 coppice 128 acres, hardwood timber 28 acres, and larch intermixed with coppice or Scotch and spruce 

 41 acres. Total 613 acres. The hardwood timber is mostly of 40 to 60 years' growth. Larch 

 disease is more or less prevalent, and in consequence Japanese larch is now being planted in the 

 expectation that it will better resist disease. About 30 acres of mixed woods have been planted 

 within the last few years, containing some larch with Scotch firs as nurses.'^' The coppices are 

 undergoing gradual conversion to woodlands by having the best poles or standards left ; an inferior 

 method to that described above, but the only alternative where the coppices consist mostly of 

 hazel. 



On Colonel Sandys' Graythwaite Hall estate in Furness the woodlands extend to 3,000 acres, 

 of which 460 are larch plantations and the whole of the remainder coppice wood, the principal parcels 

 being : — 



Ravenscar Wood of 45 acres containing oak, hazel and birch of eighteen years' growth and a 

 few larch and oak trees of about twenty-five years' growth ; Great Oregate of 44 acres containing 

 similar coppice of ten years' growth and a few oaks of ninety years' growth ; Holme Well Wood of 

 21 acres containing similar coppice of six years' growth ; Black Brows Coppice of 130 acres, contain- 

 ing principally oak and birch of seven years' growth covering 70 acres, the remainder being ' intake ' 

 with scattered oak, larch and Scotch firs ; Devil's Gallop of 80 acres, hazel and oak coppice of seven 

 years' growth ; Hawthorn Riggs of 86 acres, containing hazel, oak, birch, and alder coppice of six 

 years' growth ; Causey Wood of 54 acres, the same of five years' growth ; Wood Close of 92 acres, 

 hazel, oak, and birch coppice of twelve years' growth ; Low Wood Close of 38 acres, similar to the 

 last ; Bishop Woods of 300 acres divided into 14 falls of similar coppice, and besides about 100 well- 

 grown larches scattered over it. The other coppice woods have a very slight sprinkling of timber 

 trees of oak, beech, larch, and Scotch fir. 



Of the plantations the two principal parcels are : — 



Low Dale Park Plantation of 8 1 acres, containing good larch of fifty years' growth ; and 

 Middle Dale Park of 180 acres, containing good larch of forty-five years' growth. 



During the last ten years 120 acres of coppice have been converted into plantations and 80 acres 

 of rough moorland planted with larch, oak, ash, and sycamore. The native larch and the Quercus robur 

 thrive the best on this estate. The Japanese larch has been a great success, the trees thriving well 

 directly they are planted. This is done at a distance apart of 5 feet instead of the usual 4 feet, this 

 species being a quicker grower than the ordinary larch. A trial of the Siberian larch proved a 

 failure.''' 



On Mr. Harold Brocklebank's Grizedale Hall estate the woodland extends to an area of 1,630 

 acres, of which 680 are larch plantations of over thirty years' growth, now worth fully ,^35 per 

 acre, 464 of coppice mainly consisting of oak with a sprinkling of ash and birch, 386 of felled larch, 

 15 of mixed hardwood planted in 1904 and 85 of gaps in the larch plantations. 



Of the Plantations : — Low Carron Plantation of 133 acres contains larch of sixty-five years' 

 growth ; Quinea Hill of 80 acres, larch of thirty-five years' growth ; Four Oaks of 25 acres, larch of 



"< Information supplied by Mr. Walter de H. Birch. "' Ibid. Mr. W. Fitzherbert-Brockholes. 



"« Ibid. Mr. W. S. Hornby. '" Ibid. Mr. J. Jowitt. 



'*' Ibid. Mr. John Banks, jun. 



2 465 59 



