i8 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



planting which looked farther ahead than the next twenty 

 or thirty years was rather the exception than otherwise. 



During the last ten years or so, however, views on 

 English forestry have undergone a considerahle change. 

 Although it may not yet be regarded as a tempting com- 

 mercial enterprise, or the results in eighty or a hundred 

 years' time be considered too closely, yet it is evident that 

 a large number of landowners hold more economic views 

 on the management of their woods than was the case before. 

 This has been partly brought about by the dissemination 

 of knowledge more or less derived from Continental sources, 

 where economic forestry has been developed on scientific 

 lines. But however valuable such knowledge may be in the 

 abstract, — and no sensible man would dispute it, — ^it is appa- 

 rent to those who have closely studied the question, that 

 English forestry must possess certain characteristics of its 

 own, and any attempt to revolutionise English woodlands and 

 adopt the Continental style in its entirety will end more 

 or less in failure. An attempt will be made in the following 

 chapters to show how far beneficial changes can be produced, 

 and, wliile improving upon the old system of managing 

 woodlands, retaining at the same time those features which 

 the majority of English estate owners value and appreciate, 

 and without which they would probably regard any change 

 as a doubtful advantage. 



