1808.] 
and do they leave alone to pursue his own 
greater number  oilinterest; in some in- 
standard trees, when|stances it would not 
they cut the under-janswer, though suc- 
wood, than was for.|cessfully practised in 
merly the practice ? jpart of Warwickshire, 
particularly on Lord 
Alresiord’s estates. 
‘ble magistrates ha- 
ving paid me the com- 
pliment of requesting 
me to furnish answers 
to the questions you 
have addressed to 
them; I have sent to 
you the result of the 
experience and obser- 
vation of a pretty long 
life, in which I have 
paid particular atten- 
tion to planting and 
the growth of trees. 
1I should gladly have 
receiyed the assistance 
and correction of some 
other gentlemen, par- 
ticularly the Reverend 
Mr. Wilding, of Stret- 
ton. 
~ 
N.B. Any other ob- 
servations or informa- 
tion on the subjects 
connected with the 
preceding questions will 
be very acceptable. 
The larch and fir tribe are so rapid in 
growth, and having been much planted 
for ornament, as well as early profit, be- 
coming of use in the course of thirty or 
forty years, we may look for a supply 
from that quarter for common building 
purposes. At this time Mr. More of 
Linley furnishes the neighbourhood for 
some miles round him, with boards and 
scautling timber, from the drawings of 
extensive plantations made by his father. 
I hope and believe the time will arrive, 
when ships of war will not be wanted; till 
then, it has been again and again recom- 
mended, to apply such of the crown- 
Jands, as are fit for that purpose, as a 
nursery for timber for the navy. But if 
it is carried into execution, it will proba- 
bly be at an expence that will more than 
counter-balance the profit. {do not un- 
derstand that it would diminish the royal 
income. 
In my memory (fifty years) the falls of 
fine oak timber have heen great indeed. 
Lord Weymouth’s, now Marguis of Bath, 
from the forest of Hawkstowe; the Earl 
of Powys’s, from Oakley park estate ; 
Lord Craven’s, from his extensive estates 
in the neighbourhood of Ludlow; the 
\ 
the State of Oak Timber. 299 
great Bradford estates, now earl of Dar- 
lington’s; the late Duke of Bridgwater’s 5 
Mr. Corbet’s, of Park, é&c. &c. ¢ 
The present high price of bark, which 
has advanced in a more rapid proportion 
than the price of tmber, has been an 
additional excitement to the fall of oak ; 
butit will be astrong inducement to raise 
up, and be careful of the future growth 
of oak timber, and thus, ‘like other evils, 
produce its owncure. é 
L have known fine oak groves produced 
froma careful attention to the young 
saplings, that will grow up in coppices 
where cattle are not suffered to be turned 
into them, and cutting away the growth 
from the slroots that interferes with them; 
and if the shoots are cut close-to the 
ground at the time of falling, the poles 
that arise from them may be so selected, 
thet they will grow to be useful, though 
not to timber of the first rate. Ina wood 
of fifty acres adjoining Mr. Child of 
Kinlet’s park, there is every appearance 
that it will arrive to a considerable size ; 
it is about fifty years growth, or imore, 
In coppices, I think it injurious to draw 
them at an earlier growth than twelve 
years, but give proper room to the self- 
growing saplings. 
It has been justly observed, by Mr. 
Arthur Young, that planting lands that 
may be cultivated, or yield good pastur= 
age, is reducing them, comparatively, 
to an unproductive state; the eimploy- 
ment and produce which they afford, is 
small indeed, compared with what they 
will yield under cultivation. 
obtain timber from America and the 
northern states, 
Narrow dingles, where the inequalities 
prevent the plough from working, and’ 
the sides of such, to acertain height, I 
think favourable to the growth of oak; 
mest of the oak woods in Montgomery- 
shire are on the sides of Dingles. A 
black, moory, shallow soil, with a bad 
bottom, may answer for the growth of 
fir and larch; in such, the progress will 
be slower, but the texture of the grain of 
the wood, harder; these trees will stand 
much nearer together than the oak, and 
grow to a greater height. Perhaps at 
forty years growth, there may stand four 
times the number and quantity of iect, 
than there will be of oak in the same 
period. Mr. More, of Linley, has made for 
some years, and is still continuing to 
make, a considerable income fro: the. 
drawings from the plantations raised by 
his father. Boards are sold at one pound 
five shillings per hundred, larch boards at 
: one 
We may - 
