Agricultural Capabilities of the New Forest. 
223 
the remaining arguments should at length yield to the influence 
of public opinion. It is, however, of great importance that 
public opinion should be guided correctly, and that the Utopian 
ideas on the subject advocated by some enthusiastic partisans 
should be combated. I 
II, Forest Eights. 
The most destructive of the Forest rights, although perhaps 
at the present day one of the least valuable, is that of turbary, or 
cutting turf for the sake of fuel. It is customary to cut one turf, as 
it is termed, and leave two ; so that in some instances the surface 
may be denuded every third year, for with the turf a considerable 
quantity of the soil is removed with the roots of the broom. 
Thus not only is there no chance of any restoration taking place 
under this system, but the soil is actually impoverished and 
diminished, whilst the ashes are used to enrich in some measure 
the surrounding land. Now, this right of cutting turf was no 
doubt of value before the bowels of the earth had been made 
to yield up much richer fuel, and when the supply of manures 
was so limited that the ashes of turf were highly estimated. 
At present it is a fair question, unless the carriage is very 
slight indeed, whether the value of turf is worth the expense of 
procuring it. There can, at any rate, be no great difficulty in 
ascertaining the value of these claims, which will doubtless be 
influenced and regulated by those which have actually been exer- 
cised during an average number of years. The buying up and 
extinction of these rights, or making allotment of lands in lieu 
thereof, will no doubt form the first grand step towards the 
amelioration of the soil of the Forest, although it may take 
many years to recompense it for the bad treatment of ages. 
The surface, whether wholly or partly covered with broom, 
would of course be burnt, and this would supply at once a very 
large amount of manuring matter and food for the earlier crops. 
The most valuable of the privileges enjoyed by the Com- 
moners is undoubtedly the right of turning out cattle ; and 
where the pasturage is tolerably good, and is in the neighbour- 
hood of villages where milch cows can be turned out during the 
larger half of the year, the right, although greatly abused, is no 
doubt one of value ; and it is here that the hardship of enclosing 
the Forest will be mostly felt. It is to be hoped that this right 
will not be entirely abolished, or, if so, that it will be partially 
restored by re-purchase ; for, as the idea of reserving so much 
common land for healthy and recreative purposes and appro- 
priating the same to each town or village in the neighbourhood, 
is one very favourably entertained by the public, such a reserva- 
