president's address. 
(>45 
to assist or advance money for the purchasing of such stock. 
I he regulation as to the non-removal of dung or soil from 
the common is still in force 
1 here are some few stunted Alder and Sallow bushes on 
parts of the common, but no law has ever been made as to 
the cutting of these for peasticks, &c., and no buildings 
are supposed to be erected on the common, but a few fowl- 
houses are in evidence. 
The best parts of the common for grazing purposes are now 
being much encroached upon by the spreading of the furze, 
and one wonders that concerted action has not been taken 
to control, within reasonable limits, this gatherer of 
atmospheric nitrogen, but smotherer of pasturage. There 
are not enough Donkeys to nibble down the gorse bushes, 
and, except during deep snow, Rabbits only destroy isolated 
seedlings, ere spines replace the trefoil-like foliage of the first 
year’s growth. Occasionally, severe winters, with salt laden 
winds from the north and east, kill back the straggling tops 
of the taller bushes, and now and then a fire, accidental or 
otherwise, blackens and denudes certain portions of the 
common. It is a curious fact that the narrow-leaved Willow 
Herb (/:. angustifolinm), the fire flower of the American 
prairies, cropped up here after several acres were burnt 
during the winter of 1901. 
A rough census of the stock in the hands of those who are 
legally, and on sufferance, graziers of the common, taken 
last week, works out as follows : About 230 brood Geese, 
46 Donkeys, 37 Horses and Ponies. 30 Cows, 18 young cattle, 
and three or four Goats. This suggests what the common 
might support if cleared greatly of furze, and how beneficial 
it might be to the poor if only they had Cows ; but practically, 
all the stock that now graze the herbage, with the exception 
of the Geese, Donkeys, and Goats, belong to parishioners 
who are assessed at above £io. and, therefore, have no legal 
common rights. 
u u 2 
