Agricultural Capabilities of the Neio Forest. 
250 
He adds : " the expense of grubbing the furze would be 4Z. 10s., 
the timber (iZ. IO5., or more, draining 4Z., chalking or marling 
about (SZ., tillage and manures 4Z. lUs., besides fencing, iron 
buildings, and cottages. 
Mr. Dickinson, on the other hand, who has farmed at New 
Park and Burley Lodge since the land has been no longer 
required for the purpose of growing hay, &c., for the deer during 
the winter, entertains the most favourable opinions as to its 
agricultural capabilities. His opinions are derived from the 
results he has obtained at New Park and Burley Lodge, which 
he rents from the Crown. Mr. Dickinson, however, confesses 
that outside his own farms his observations of the New Forest 
have been mostly confined to the district around him. It is well 
known that he has grown, particularly at New Park, some extra- 
ordinary roots and other green crops, particularly Italian rye-grass, 
as well as grain 5 and it is equally well-known that the means he 
bas put in force in raising them have been exercised with no lavish 
hand. The rent paid by Mr. Dickinson to the Crown amounts 
to 816/. per annum, which, however, includes the interest of 
money expended in a steam-engine, iron pipes for sewage, or 
rather manuring, irrigation, and the erection of some excellent 
farm buildings ; and as the mansion formerly occupied by the 
chief officer in the Forest is included, it must be acknowledged, 
that the rent is no doubt a just one. Moreover, it was open to 
public competition, and it was fairly taken. Mr. Dickinson is 
deserving of great credit for the spirited manner in which he has 
carried on the farm. Some 30 acres of the land at New Park 
are under the influence of sub-irrigation, the material for which 
is supplied by the drainage from the extensive cattle-sheds 
and stables, and is distributed through the iron pipes by means 
of the steam-engine, diluted by water from the stream which, 
coming from the centre of the Forest, passes through Burley 
Lodge and New Park on its passage to Brockenhurst and 
Lymington. It must not be forgotten that a good portion of the 
New Park Farm has been under cultivation for many years, but, 
for want of the same liberal expenditure, with nothing like the 
results that are now to be seen. It must also be borne in mind 
that the geological division to which New Park belongs is the 
most favourable for cultivation of any land in the Forest, viz., the 
Fluviomarine, whilst the smaller farm at Burley Lodge is situated 
on the Barton clay, the second best formation ; and on these 
strata most of the Forest woodlands are found. With these facts 
before us, we are of opinion that whilst it would be absurd to 
adduce these farms as a sample of the whole of the Forest, or 
even as a specimen of the average land, yet the great success 
which has there attended cultivation speaks strongly in favour of 
s 2 
