312 
Farming of Hampshire. 
The newly grubbed land not wanting lielp lor the first three 
years, the rape would be led, in the daytime, by sheep, who 
would be folded at night elsewhere ; or the rape might be cut, 
and carried away for folding. So that the farmer would get as 
many acres manured as he grubbed, and two straw crops without 
any manure. 
The very name of Hursley Qiurst-lea, the " wood-field,") is 
indicative not only of its original Anglo-Saxon condition, but, 
which is the more remarkable, considering the many intervening 
changes, of its present mixed woodland and agricultural character. 
Sir William Heathcote's woods are of large extent, and may 
be divided into those growing on the Bagshot eminences, those 
on the lower ground of the London clay, and those on the chalk 
hill sides. On all, the timber, and not the underwood, is the 
chief object. 
If oak be planted on the gravel hills (and it will not grow 
there spontaneously), nurses are required. Larch are preferred 
^ for this purpose to Scotch firs, as coming quicker to maturity, 
and intrinsically more valuable. They must be thinned out 
from time to time, and in fifteen or twenty years' time the thin- 
nings are valuable. The larch will do well up to forty or fifty 
years of age, and are then very profitable. Indeed, the light sand 
and gravel hills throughout the county cannot be turned to better 
account, if the proprietor can afford to wait. Mr. Melville Portal 
has planted upwards of 100 acres, which are doing admirably. 
On the London clay, oak is the natural production of the soil ; 
and, whatever trees be cut down there, oak springs up. Beech 
is chiefly planted, with fir or larch for nurses, on the " linchets " 
(the natural escarpments) of the chalk hills, partly for ornament, 
partly for shelter. 
Underwood in this thickly wooded part of Hampshire is so 
plentiful, that it is managed chiefly with a view to the welfare of 
the timber, being cut at intervals of five, seven, or ten years, as 
the trees want room and air. When these are brought to their 
maturity, and there is a general fall of the timber, the first next 
succeeding cutting of underwood will be weak, but should not 
be delayed on that account beyond five, or, at the most, seven 
years. At any time, as soon as the grass begins to decay beneath 
the stems, and the under shoots show signs of weakness, the bill- 
hook should enter. The rapid aftergrowth will assure the most 
timid woodman, that it is safer to cut early, for the sake of the 
underwood itself, to say nothing of the risk, consequent on delay, 
to the young trees, and the future stock of timber. 
For police purposes, the Hursley home estate (so to speak) 
is divided into seven districts or beats, in each of which resides 
a woodman, a responsible and trusty man, whose duty it is, to be 
