WOODLAND WORK AND WORKING PLANS 197 



unless the estate happens to be a large one, and with a 

 large area of woodland upon it which is able to feed a few 

 industries in the immediate neighbourhood. Even on such 

 estates, however, such a plan, as already stated, must be of 

 an accommodating nature. For the average woods of an 

 average estate, our ideal of a working plan is that which 

 enables the entire woodland area to become stocked in the 

 least time, and without obliging the owner to spend a greater 

 sum than the income from the woods will cover. As already 

 stated, wholesale clearing of old woodland is not advisable as 

 a rale, but, on the other hand, the process should not be 

 prolonged beyond a certain point, otherwise the loss, in the 

 shape of deterioration of timber and land lying idle, is 

 greater than any gain arising from the annual expenditure 

 being kept down. 



Any scheme, however rough and ready, which entails the 

 clearing and replanting of old woodland, is a step in the 

 right direction, and a step in advance of the average estate 

 wood management of to-day. Every estate forester who is 

 a forester in reality, and not in name only, keeps this object 

 steadily in view, and uses every means in his power to stock 

 his ground with young and profitable crops of timber. But 

 he finds from experience that his powers are usually Umited 

 to a degree which prevent him from working up to his ideal, 

 and that these powers are not always increased by stating 

 the necessity or desirabiUty for them on paper. It is often 

 easier to get a piece of work carried out when the powers 

 that be know little about it beforehand, than when the whole 

 of the details and the expense thereof are laid bare at the 

 outset. A comprehensive working plan on paper appears to 

 the average owner or agent too big a thing to be taken in 

 hand by the forester's staff, and it probably looks like signing 

 a death warrant for all the sentimental or historical associa- 

 tions of the woods. Let it be done bit by bit, and in such 

 a way that the mark of each footstep is covered before the 

 next is made, and it is possible for a satisfactory working 

 plan to be executed, more or less according to the spirit, if 

 not to the letter, of the law in which it was designed. 



For the woods of an average estate, a working plan 

 which answers all practical requirements could be drawn up 



