C 13 ] 
tent, exist in the other forests, and that the 
same kind of concern for the public good is 
■manifested in all. 
We will not go far back for the commence- 
ment of this history, eight or ten years will 
be far enough. The whole perambulation 
includes about 96,000 acres, of \vhich there 
are about 20,000 acres chiefly inclosed and 
cultivated. The remainder consists of various 
w ild produ61:ions, wdth here and there a patch 
of oak timber, irregularly distributed, and 
which is chiefly found in the vales, where the 
soil is evidently of a thicker or deeper staple. 
In other parts there are some patches of 
timber-like trees, which appear to have been 
planted very thick, from one to tw^o centuries 
ago, and for want of having been regularly 
thinned as they grew up, are now mere 
spires, with proportionate tops. They ap- 
pear like besoms at the mast-heads of ships, 
a pra6lice used commonly to denote that they 
are on sale. Indeed it appears that the trees 
in this situation have been in a constant 
struggle or contention with each other for 
