168 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



BRITISH COMMISSIONERS OF "WOODS AND FORESTS EXHIBITS. 



It may help to explain the apathy of the British Government on the subject of the 

 conservation of forests when it is mentioned that of all the splendid royal forests 

 -which were to be found in different parts of the country, in which many a merry 

 monarch followed the chase, only 53,000 acres remain. These are distributed as fol- 

 lows : Dean Forest and High Meadow "Woods. Gloucestershire, about 19,500 ; Windsor 

 Forest, 10.000 ; New Forest, Hampshire, 18,750 ; Bere Woods, Hampshire, 1,434 ; 

 Alice Holt, Hampshire, 1,887; Woolmer Forest, Hampshire, 870; Parkhurst, Isle of 

 Wight, 1,152 acres. Epping Forest, the well-known play-ground of the Londoner 

 at holiday times, is the property of the corporation of London. From the last-men- 

 tioued forest the conservator, Captain Mackenzie, sent numerous specimens of na- 

 ture's freaks, in the curious self-grafting of branches, of the interlacing of roots, and 

 peculiar contortions of trunks. Admirable plans of forest lodges were also shown. 

 The " Burn ham Beeches," a magnificent group of trees in Epping Forest, which have 

 been extolled by many writers on sylvan scenery, were represented by photographs 

 and by sections of the wood of some of their number which had been blown down by 

 heavy gales. 



In the royal forests oak is chiefly cultivated for use in the royal navy, but other 

 trees are also intermixed, including the ash, birch, beech, and Spanish chestnut, the 

 elm, the lime, the hornbeam, and several members of the pine and fir family. Sec- 

 tions of trees in age from ten to two hundred years were shown, indicating the vary- 

 ing growth of timber under different circumstances and different soils. These tim- 

 bers give an opportunity of testing the popular theory that the age of trees can be 

 exactly determined by the counting of the ring growths, each ring growth being 

 supposed to represent one year's life of a tree. It appears to be the opinion 

 generally of foresters in Britain that the ring growths may be relied upon to 

 determine the age of a tree, and in some of the trees whose ages are otherwise 

 determinable the ring growths closely correspond to the number of years in which 

 the tree has been in the ground. In the case of some of the old trees, the outer 

 rings become so contracted, indicating the exhaustion of the soil in which the 

 tree had stood, that it was almost impossible to count them with any accuracy. 

 On a chart from the Dean Forest were some very instructive figures, giving the results 

 of experiments carried on for the last hundred years in connection with the planting of 

 oak. These show no opposition to the old received theory that an oak, like every 

 other tree artificially cultivated, is better to be transplanted once or twice before be- 

 ing finally deposited on the spot on which it is intended it should grow. In Britain 

 nurserymen always, in transplanting a tree, trim the tap root so as to encourage the 

 growth of fibers. As illustrating the methods of inclosure in use at New Forest there 

 was set up in the open ground a hoop-iron fence for large areas, which was stated to 

 cost with bank and ditch Is. l£cZ. per yard ; and there was a cleft oak paling shown 

 which can be provided at Is. Id. per yard. 



THE QUEEN'S EXHIBITS. 



In the open ground was shown a pretty rustic chalet sent by Her Majesty the Queen, 

 and composed entirely of the wood of Pinus sylvestris, forests of which tree at one time 

 covered a large area of the Highlands. Some years ago the remains of the old forests 

 of Upper Deeside, where Her Majesty's Highland residence of Balmoral is, were threat- 

 ened with extinction. They had. passed into the hands of a wood merchant, but Her 

 Majesty interposed and bought up the woods, which have been closely conserved 

 since. Her Majesty's private forests on Upper Deeside extend to about 20,000 acres, and 

 contain many noble specimens of the old pine of the country. One massive section of 

 wood from Ballochbirie Forest — one of the Highland forests of Pinus sylvestris — is two 

 hundred and seventy years old; another is two hundred and twelve years. The latter 

 had been blown down and had lain on the ground for upwards of forty years, until 

 the sapwood had become wasted into a soil on which are growing heather and cran- 

 berry bushes and mosses ; but the heart wood, which measures 3-^ feet across — from its 

 indestructible nature — is still perfectly sound. The object which Her Majesty had in 

 sending this exhibit was to show how adaptable the Pinus sylvestris, being indigenous to 

 the Highlands, is for planting the mountain-sides and valleys of Scotland. The wood 

 is exceedingly valuable, combining as it does great durability with beauty, and can 

 be used for rough work or interior ornamentation. The specimens of the wood, pol- 

 ished, shown by Her Majesty, were of the most beautiful description. 



THE BRITISH WAR DEPARTMENT. 



This department of the Government service sent a case of the woods used in the 

 royal arsenal, such as oak, teak, ash, mahogany, walnut, &c, for making lances, 

 rifle-stocks, and ordnance wagons, &c, also specimens of the wood used in making 

 charcoal for gunpowder. 



