34 * 
Epping Forest [June, 
that much of this land — certainly not less than 500 acres, 
and perhaps much more — has been recovered only in a very 
imperfect sense. To the north and east of Chingford Station 
there is a broad belt of country which had at one time been 
converted into fields. True, the fences and the gates, and all 
other marks of private ownership, have been removed, and 
the land is thrown open. But it is a mere barren waste, — 
treeless, shrubless, flowerless, — painful to walk over, because 
the ridges and depressions formed on laying it out into fields 
have not been removed. It is merely a desert over which 
the visitor has to toil as best he may till he reaches the part 
still covered with trees. The artist and the lover of the 
picturesque find here nothing on which to feast their eyes ; 
there is nothing for the naturalist to observe, because there 
is no shelter for bird, reptile, or inseCt ; lastly, there are no 
trees beneath which the general public may sit down to rest 
and meditate. What sort of “ restitution” can we call this ? 
If a man steals my dress coat, cuts off the laps, and con- 
verts it into a stable-jacket, can he be said, in any fair and 
just sense of the word, to have made restitution if he gives 
me back the damaged remains ? In this matter justice has 
not been done. The encroachers should have been compelled 
to restore the land to its original condition, stocking it with 
the same trees, bushes, and plants as originally grew there, 
and to watch over their growth and well-being till thoroughly 
established. However, as such even-handed proceeding is 
not to be hoped for,— and indeed the opportunity, if it ever 
existed, has gone by for ever, — it is next to be asked, What 
prospeCt is there of this devastated region being restored to 
a condition of beauty ? I fear, for the present, very little. 
To plant it would involve a very heavy outlay, which no 
public body, and certainly no private individual, will volun- 
teer to bear. True, if it could be left untouched for a couple 
of centuries, trees would doubtless spring up again. The 
seeds of wild plants would be carried by the winds and by 
birds from the still unpolluted parts of the forest, and ulti- 
mately something like the original vegetation would appear. 
At the same time I think every observer of Nature will agree 
with me that if a piece of ground has been “ cleared,” and 
is then again left to itself, the new flora which gradually 
springs up and establishes itself is of a lower type, less 
beautiful and interesting, than that which has been rooted 
out. In the present organisation of society man might al- 
most be defined as the cause and the creator of ugliness, 
and wherever he goes the ugly, in the animal and vegetable 
world, seems to follow his footsteps. 
