OUR WOODS AND FORESTS 
29 
of our formerly vast English forests. There are no Crown 
woodlands in Ireland or Scotland, nor indeed in Wales — though 
there is much Crown waste land in Wales which might profit- 
ably be planted. 
“ It would be well if the area of each separate woodland were 
given in the report, and also the number of cubic feet of timber 
and fuel sold, and that used on the estates, as well as their 
values, which are given now. A fair idea might then be formed 
of the comparative yield of each woodland area, the detailed 
receipts and expenditure of which are now separately given. 
. . . No expenditure for planting can be traced in the 
accounts for the Windsor Forest, but the total expenditure 
on plantations elsewhere is £1,^00, of which the chief items 
are ^839 for the New Forest, ;^283 for the P'orest of Dean, and 
£iiy in the Isle of Man. The expenditure of ;^647 on Dela- 
mere Forest probably includes some expenditure on plantations, 
which were much wanted when the writer saw the forest a few 
years ago ; but the amount is not specified. It would be useful 
if this item were shown for all Crown woodlands. 
“ Mr. Stafford Howard states that the Staple Edge and 
Blakeney Hill woods, 1,393 acres in extent, in the Forest of 
Dean, have been fenced, and that these woods will now be 
closed in accordance with plans for the gradual reinclosure of 
the whole 11,000 acres, which the Crown is entitled to keep 
under enclosure. Mr. Stafford Howard has also addressed the 
Lords of the Treasury as to the decay of the ‘Old Woods’ 
in the New Forest, which he states must inevitably perish and 
disappear altogether before many years, as their enclosure is 
prevented by the New Forest Act of 1877, and consequently 
the young growth cannot be protected against the cattle and 
ponies which graze in the forest. 
“ The Select Committee of the House of Commons which sat 
in 1875 held the opinion ; — 
“ (i) That these fine old woods were natural woods which had 
grown up unprotected and untended by man in any way, in the 
open forest. 
“ (2) That as they had sprung up naturally, so young trees 
would in due course of nature come up to take the place of those 
that decayed and fell from time to time, and that all that was 
necessary in places where this failed to occur was to prevent the 
mowing down of the fern, where there was any young growth 
amongst it, and here and there to plant young trees of good size, 
so as to be out of the reach of animals. 
“ Twenty-two years have now passed, and there can be no 
doubt that these opinions were erroneous. The incorrectness of 
the first assumption is shown by the perusal of old records, and 
of the second by an inspection of the woods. An Act of 
Edward IV. provided for the enclosure for seven years of woods 
after the underwood had been cut, in order to protect the 
regrowth from being destroyed by deer and cattle, and a statute 
