Plantations  Competition,  1909. 
265 
or  external  fencing,  and  although  it  may  be  considered  some- 
what high,  we  do  not  think  that  owners  planting — more 
particularly  in  the  oolite  limestone  district — can  look  forward 
to  a good  result  unless  they  are  prepared  to  expend  a sum 
approaching  this  figure  upon  the  work.  We  may  say  that 
the  beneficial  result  that  accrues  from  good  work  is  clearly 
shown  in  the  fully-stocked  plantations  shown  to  us,  many 
of  which  had  scarcely  been  touched  since  they  were  first 
planted  except  for  weeding  and  cleaning,  and  in  some  it 
was  possible  to  go  through  long  rows  without  finding  a 
missing  tree. 
In  most  cases  the  young  plantations  were  netted  against 
rabbits  when  first  planted.  We  find  the  mixed  mesh  netting 
was  used  here  and  there,  but  for  the  most  part  3 ft.  6 in. 
netting  with  a 1^-in.  mesh  had  been  adopted  successfully. 
There  seems  to  have  been  a tendency  to  take  away  the  netting 
too  soon,  but  it  was  explained  by  more  than  one  agent  that 
the  number  of  rabbits  had  increased  considerably  after  this 
was  done.  We  find  as  a rule  that  active  steps  have  been  taken 
to  keep  down  rabbits,  but  apparently  these  efforts  are  of  rather 
recent  date,  although  it  is  encouraging  to  find  owners  waking 
up  to  the  serious  damage  caused  by  rabbits  to  their  wood- 
lands, and  realising  that  rabbits  and  young  trees  cannot  be 
grown  profitably  on  the  same  ground  concurrently.  The 
details  of  other  fencing  do  not  afford  any  information  of  much 
value,  except  that  we  were  shown  an  excellent  quick  hedge 
made  from  the  thorns  dug  out  of  the  area  before  it  was 
planted,  and  we  noticed  the  error  on  one  property  of  planting 
the  trees  too  near  the  newly-formed  hedge,  which  has  subse- 
quently become  overgrown  by  the  spreading  branches  and 
consequently  damaged. 
This  damage  to  external  hedges  has  been  overcome  on  one 
or  two  estates  by  the  excellent  plan  of  having  a broad  ride  all 
round  the  outside  of  the  trees.  But  this  has  only  been  done 
on  estates  where  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  important 
question  of  woodland  rides.  It  does  not  appear  to  have 
occurred  to  some  owners  how  much  they  can  improve  the 
value  and  appearance  of  their  estates,  and  at  the  same  time 
facilitate  the  clearing  of  their  timber,  by  leaving  wider  rides. 
One  of  the  best  examples  of  woodland  rides  was  that  of 
Mr.  Dent  Brocklehurst,  whose  larch  plantations  lie  upon 
undulating  land  at  a very  high  altitude,  and  who  has  materially 
improved  the  value  of  his  property  by  the  judicious  planting 
and  excellent  planning  of  a considerable  area  of  land  of  small 
value.  Another  instance  of  good  planning  was  that  of 
Mr.  Barneby  in  the  Wolferlow  plantation.  In  this  case  the 
whole  of  the  100  acres  was  planned  out  before  the  work  was 
