PRESENT CONDITION OF ENGLISH FORESTRY 25 



When this occurs, the growth of the timber decreases more 

 or less rapidly— according to soil and situation ; while ground 

 which might be carrying a healthy tree, steadily increasing 

 in value, is lying waste or breeding weeds and rubbish. On 

 good deep soils the growth of the trees is less seriously 

 affected than on poor thin ground, while sheltered and moist 

 places can bear it better than high-lying ground exposed 

 to wind and drought. But a broken leaf canopy in early 

 life invariably means reduced height-growth and premature 

 crown development, both of which seriously diminish the 

 total production of timber per acre and price per foot 

 obtained. 



Another bad feature of the prevailing practice is that 

 connected with the lengthened period over which the 

 clearing of the ground is extended after the crop may be 

 said to have reached maturity. Various reasons may be 

 found for this delay. In one case it may be a sentimental 

 reluctance to clear off an old crop of trees which has been 

 before the owner's eyes from his earliest recollections. 

 There is little doubt that old woods or trees are associated 

 in the mind of their owner with many family incidents and 

 recollections. He has probably gone bird-nesting in them 

 as a boy, he has shot over them as a youth, and as time goes 

 on they become familiar objects in his eyes which he is often 

 loth to part with. They represent, not so many feet of 

 timber, but individual objects associated with the estate he 

 has inherited, and he considers that to destroy them for the 

 mere sake of pecuniary advantage to himself is an act 

 approaching vandalism or brutality. Another cause of this 

 hesitation to clear off a plantation long past maturity is the 

 obligation it carries with it, of going to the expense of 

 replanting the ground. An estate owner, whether legally 

 obliged to do so or not, invariably feels himself bound to 

 replant ground he has cleared, although this operation may 

 be a direct loss to himself personally. By leaving the old 

 crop on the ground he at least retains the appearance and 

 sporting value of his estate, and he probably feels that any 

 advantage which would follow the clearing and replanting 

 of the ground would neither benefit himself nor his direct 

 heirs to any known extent. 



