THE NEW FOREST. 237 
There can be no doubt that these rights of common 
over the Forest had been, from time immemorial, of the 
greatest value to the small owners of land, copyholders, 
and tenants in the neighbourhood, and were the main 
cause that many small owners still existed, and had 
resisted the tendency elsewhere to aggregate land in 
few hands, and, still more, that small holdings of land 
prevailed, and had not been consolidated into large 
farms. They were also of equal value to the cottager 
with his half-acre of land attached, in respect of which 
he could turn out a cow or a pony, and could drive his 
pigs into the Forest to feed on the acorns. The 
neighbourhood of the Forest is the best place in 
Iingland—one of the very few still remaining —for 
studying the condition of small owners, tenants, and 
cottagers under such circumstances, and for appreciating 
the effect, upon such classes in the agricultural com- 
munity, of the great inclosures of past times. 
The existence of these rights undoubtedly accounts 
for the large measure of prosperity among these people, 
and for the absence of pauperism. The Forest itself, 
on account of its varying conditions, its great variety 
-of soil and water-supply, of shelter and exposure, is 
peculiarly suitable for the turning-out of hardy cattle 
and ponies. They can at all times, and in every kind 
of season, find fitting places for feed and shelter; any 
deficiency in one part is supplied by sufficiency or 
excess in another; and the animals travel long distances 
to find the most suitable conditions, whether for 
water and shade in dry seasons, or for dry land 
