English estate forestry

Front matter

THE LIBRARY

OF

LOS ANGELES

Chapter I English Forests And Origin Of Forestry

Probable Extent and Condition of English Forests in Prehistoric Times — Influence of the Roman Occupation on Natural Woodland — The Forest Laws of the Normans — Causes of Gradual Reduction of the Natural Forest Area — Effect of the Charta Foresta — Rise of Economic Forestry in England owing to the Gradual Exhaustion of the Natural Supply — Early Attempts at Forest Conservation in the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centuries— Effect of the Reformation on Monastic Woodlands — Destruction of Timber during the Civil War — John Evelyn and his Efforts in the cause of Forest Planting — Scarcity of Naval Timber during the Eighteenth Century— Influence of Estate Development on Forestry during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries — Landscape Gardening and its Effect on English Forestry —The Evolution of the Modern Plantation ....

Chapter II

Area of English Woodlands— Position of Estate Woodlands in Rural Estate Economy — Sylviculture in English Forestry, and the Effects upon it of Arboriculture and Landscape Gardening — General Condition of English Plantations — Sylvicultural Systems — Financial Results of English Forestry— Game and English Forestry . . .19

Chapter III Prospects And Possibilities Of English Forestry

Possible Extension of the Woodland Area — Waste Land and Soils adapted for Planting — Financial Results Possible or Probable — Improvement of existing Woodlands— Desirability of State Aid for the Woodland Proprietor— The Finance Act of 1894 . . . . .39

vii

CONTENTS

Chapter IV Profitable English Timber Trees, And Their Sylvictjltttral Treatment

Definition of a Profitable Timber Tree — Introduction of Exotic Species — Characteristics of, and Soils, Situations, and Sylvicultural Treatment adapted for Oak, Ash, Beech, Spanish Chestnut, Birch, Poplar, Alder, etc. — Larch, Scots Fir, Spruce, Douglas Fir, Weymouth Pine, Menzies Spruce, Silver Fir, etc. . . . ... 54

Chapter V Planting And Natural Regeneration

Soil Preparation — Fencing against Game — Methods of Planting on Hillsides, Rough Ground, Pasture, or Arable — Size and Condition of Plants used— Natural Regeneration and its General Principles — Natural Regeneration of Oak, Ash, Beech, Scots Fir, etc. . . Ill

Chapter VI

Evolution of the Practice in English Forestry — Principles of Correct Thinning — Thinning Pure Plantations — Thinning Mixed Woods — Influence of Objects in View upon the Practice of Thinning — Pruning in Ordinary Plantations . . . . . .124

Chapter X Landscape Forestry And Woodland Scenery

Landscape Effect of Woods in general — Size and Outline of Woods in Hilly and Flat Districts— Margins of Woods— Effect of Light- and Heavy-Foliaged Trees, etc.— Types of Woodland Scenery— Use and Abuse of "Ornamental" Species — Woodland Rides, Glades, etc. — Ornamental Woods . . . . . . .203

Chapter XI Park Timber And Avenues

Origin of Parks — Clumps — Belts — Groves — Picturesque Park Trees — Avenues, their Use and Origin —Styles of Avenues, their Length, Width, and Composition — Planting Avenues . . . 248

Chapter XII Enemies Of English Woodlands

Rabbits, Squirrels, etc.— Insects: Oak-Leaf Roller Moth, Winter Moth, Larch Aphis, Pine Beetle, Pine Weevil, Cockchafer, Garden Chafer — Fungi : Larch Disease, Heart-Rot, Beech and Ash Canker, Trametes radiciperda, Honey Fungus — Wind — Frosts, etc. . . . 270

Chapter XIII

Evolution of the Estate Forester— His Present Position and Education . 314

LIST OF ILLUSTEATIONS

OAK IN AN ENGLISH PARK ..... Frontispiece

ALDER MOOR ...... Facing page 10

AVENUE IN SEVENTEENTH CENTURY GROVE . ,, ,, 10

YOUNG SPRUCE WOOD . . . . . ,, ,, 62

COPPICE WITH STANDARDS . . . . ,, ,, 62

YOUNG BEECH ON THE CHILTERNS . . . ,, ,, 76

MATURE BEECH WOOD . . . . . ,, ,, 76

ABELE POPLARS IN AN ENGLISH PARK . . . ,, ,, 84

EFFECT OF OVER-THINNING ON BEECH . . ,, ,, 140

CORRECT THINNING . . . . . ,, ,, 140

TIMBER CUTTING . . . . . ,, ,, 186

UNDER- WOOD CUTTING . . . . . ,, ,, 186

MARGIN OF WOOD WITH TREES STANDING FORWARD . ,, ,, 210

MARGIN OF WOOD BROKEN UP BY THINNING . . 210

STRAIGHT RIDE THROUGH BEECH WOOD . . ,, ,,228

DRIVE THROUGH MIXED WOOD . . . . ,, ,, 228

GROUP OF ASH AND THORN . . . . ,, ,, 250

WIDE-PLANTED AVENUE . . . . . ,, ,, 264

CLOSE-PLANTED AVENUE . 264

Chapter I English Fokestky In The Past

THE exact period of time which has elapsed since the last Glacial Period has been variously estimated by different geologists, but is generally assumed to be something between fifty thousand and a hundred thousand years. During that period there is no evidence that the indigenous forest flora of England has altered to any material extent, although the distribution of certain species may have been affected by physical changes and human agencies. The plant remains found in peat bogs and buried forests afford conclusive evidence of the species of trees and shrubs which flourished when the boundaries of Great Britain extended farther than they do at present. Submerged forests exist at intervals along the entire coast-line from the Shetland Islands to Land's End, and the trees and shrubs they contain are in a perfect state of preservation. The Cromer Forest Bed, one of the best preserved of our submerged forests, contains the remains of forest trees and shrubs which are still indigenous, and none that are not, unless it be the spruce. In the Fens the Arctic birch is the only tree, in Post-Glacial deposits, not indigenous, and in Sussex and Hampshire a few of these deposits contain a species of maple not now found nearer than France ; but these may simply be considered as exceptions which prove the rule, and it may safely be asserted that the indigenous forest flora is older than the earliest trace of Neolithic man. What species existed when the British Isles were united to the Continent, or when the lion, tiger, elephant, and hyaena lived in its jungles, it is hardly worth while speculating upon ; but everything points to the fact that we still possess all those types of forest trees which have existed within these islands during the last hundred thousand years. What changes have taken place in comparatively recent times have been in the direction of augmenting the number of species which can thrive in the British climate by artificial assistance or protection ; and if our woodlands were once again left to their own resources, there is every probability that a large number of introductions would hold their own with the original occupant.

Trees and shrubs generally considered to be indigenous to England are the following : — Oak, ash, beech, wych elm, Scots pine, yew, alder, willow, poplar, maple, hornbeam, whitebeam, mountain ash, birch, bird cherry, gean, dogwood, privet, holly, hazel, black and white thorn, service tree, elder, juniper, gorse, broom, buckthorn, spindle tree, etc. These species may be found in most of the remains of our natural forests to-day, and are more or less widely distributed in hedges and copses.

The distribution of these species in the shape of forest was practically universal, so far as the soil and situation would allow. If it were possible to go far enough back, we should probably find that Caesar's assertion two thousand years ago that Britain was " one horrid forest " was practically true at one time, although it is doubtful if that was the case in his day. In The Making of England Mr. J. E. Green gives us the following picture of the natural woodlands previous to or in the time of the Eomans. He states that " neither moor nor fen covered so vast a tract of Britain as its woods. The wedge of forest and scrub which filled the hollow between the North and South Downs, stretched in an unbroken mass for 120 miles from Hampshire to the Valley of the Medway; but huge as it was, this Andreds Weald was hardly greater than other of the woodlands which covered Great Britain. A line of thickets along the shore of the Southampton Water linked it with as large a forest tract to the west, a fragment of which survives in our New Forest, but which then bent away through the present Dorsetshire, and spread northward through the western edge of the Wiltshire Downs to the Valley of the Frome. The line of the Severn was blocked above Worcester by the Forest of Wyre, which extended northward to Cheshire, while the Avon skirted the border of a mighty woodland, of which Shakespeare's Arden became the dwindled representative, and which all but covered the area of the present Warwickshire. Away to the east the rises of Highgate and Hampstead formed the southern edge of a forest tract that stretched without a break to the Wash, and thus almost touched the belt of woodland which ran athwart Mid Britain in the forests of Eockingham and Charnwood, and in the Brunewald of the Lincoln Heights. The northern part of the province was yet wilder and more inaccessible than part of the south, while Sherwood and Need wood filled the space between the Peak and the Trent. The Vale of York was pressed between the moorlands of Pickering and the waste or desert which stretched from the Peak of Derbyshire to the Koman Wall, and beyond the Wall to the Forth the country was little more than a vast wilderness of moorland and woodland, which later times knew as the Forest of Selkirk."

In fact, the whole of England in prehistoric times might have been divided into three classes — 1st, open down or heath ; 2nd, woodland or forest ; and 3rd, marsh or swamp. The downs were represented then, as they are to-day, by the chalk ranges of Kent, Hants, Wilts, and Herts, and the oolitic hills of the Cotswolds. The heaths were found on the sandcovered chalk of the Lincolnshire Wolds, the drift of Cambridge, Norfolk and Suffolk, and the poorer soils of the Tertiary and recent formations. But it must not be taken too much for granted that either of these comparatively open tracts of country were originally treeless. While the nature of the soil prohibited the growth of large timber, and facilitated early attempts at clearing, it probably maintained a great deal of scrub which deserved the title of " forest " as much as the more fertile land. We have patches of natural woodland on our chalk downs to-day which have every appearance of being the remains of primeval forest, and it is impossible to say what denuding effect the grazing of countless generations of sheep upon them has had. The heath-covered ground, again, may have had its growth of birch, and possibly Scots fir, although the latter tree appears to have become extinct in the southern counties until reintroduced within recent times.

The marsh or swamp land was mostly represented in the eastern counties, Somersetshire, etc., and the mouths of rivers generally. Here, too, alders, willows, etc., invested it with a certain degree of forest character, and a great deal has only been reclaimed within recent times. The remaining class of land, woodland, occupied, as we have seen, fully half or more of the country, the remains of which exist down to the present day.

The condition of these primeval forests was probably much the same in Britain in prehistoric times, as may be found in thinly inhabited forest districts in other parts of the world. Composed of the indigenous species already enumerated, their existence depended entirely upon natural regeneration, such as may be seen to-day whenever a piece of waste land exists within a short distance of surrounding trees or woods. Their natural enemies, in addition to man himself, would principally be deer, wild cattle, hares, etc., and constant warfare between the animal and vegetable world would be carried on. The character of the soil would decide whether the forest growth would consist of tall or large oak or ash, with holly or yew beneath, stunted and crooked scrub of the same species, or birch, alder, willow, and other moisture-loving trees. In sheltered valleys with good deep soil and natural drainage, numerous oaks and other timber trees would attain large dimensions, and, where favourably situated, a great height, but there would be little of that regularity characteristic of planted or artificially managed woods. Wherever a favourable seed-bed existed, or a gap occurred in the leaf canopy by the fall of an old tree, a dense crop of seedlings would make its appearance from time to time. If not interfered with by deer or ground game, or shaded by overhanging branches, these patches would develop into clumps, in which the struggle for existence or self-thinning would constantly be going on. The final result would be a few tall clean trees in the centre, and the edges of the clump composed of stunted and leaning trees — pushed outward in the struggle for light, heavily branched on one side, and destitute of leading shoots. With the presence of game or other animals, various contingencies would arise to interfere with the normal development of the group. Browsing, beheading, and barking may convert the promising sapling into a gnarled and stunted bush, a many-forked stem, or a bush-headed tree. Seedlings springing up amidst a patch of thorns, hollies, or brambles, would have a better chance of escaping injury than those on bare or grassy ground, and the single tree or small group, with the protecting bush at its base, would be the result. Every form and size of tree, every conceivable combination of stem and bush, would be represented in one place or another, separated by grassy glades or patches of weeds, bracken, or other growth characteristic of forest soil.

It is impossible to estimate the influence of prehistoric man on the forests of Britain. The Druids are usually associated with our earliest ideas of the ancient Briton and his religion, and it is recorded that Malmud, supposed to be the founder of Malmesbury, about 400 B.C. formed a code of laws in which forest preservation was referred to. This reference states that it was within the right of every man to cut firewood from a dead tree, thus implying that living trees were protected even at that time.

There can be little doubt but that the earliest tribes did something towards the subjection or destruction of the native forests. The gigantic temples of Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire, with the barrows and tumuli scattered about over the open downs which exist in other parts of the country, suggest that the earliest settlements were on the more open and thinly wooded tracts of country. These remains point to a population of considerable size, and, although it chiefly confined itself to the open country already referred to, it depended a great deal for its food and clothing upon the surrounding forest. Fuel and timber would be necessary at all times, and although it is improbable that prehistoric man was the means of reducing the natural forest area of the country to any appreciable extent, it is not unreasonable to infer that he was the means of thinning out and keeping in check forest growth at a very early period. Gradually, and in proportion to the increase of the population, the drier and most suitable forest districts would be occupied, and their crop of indigenous timber thinned from various causes ; but that wholesale destruction of forest by fire, such as went on in America even before the advent of the white man, would be out of the question, for deciduous forest growth in this country does not readily burn or easily ignite. It would be upon the forest, again, that the early Briton depended for his wealth in the shape of cattle and hogs, and his sport in the shape of deer and other animals ; and it is reasonably safe to conclude, that while the downs upon which his remains are so abundant were comparatively treeless, yet forest land surrounded and was scattered amongst them wherever the soil was of a suitable nature.

The first important attack made on the dense forest of the country was probably during the Eoman occupation. Numerous evidences exist to point to the fact that one branch of engineering with which the invaders employed themselves, was the destruction of a portion of these forests. The draining of Hatfield Chase in the reign of Charles I. brought to light large numbers of buried trees, which had in many cases been burned or felled, and amongst them were found many Eoman remains. They are said to have set fire to an extensive pine forest near Doncaster, into which the Britons retreated after their defeat at Osterfield, and the fallen and charred trees have been discovered beneath the surface. This work was probably carried out, partly for agricultural, and partly for strategic and political reasons. The forests were the natural strongholds of the savage tribes with whom the invaders had to contend, and they naturally endeavoured to reduce the area of the former as far as lay in their power.

The earliest occupation of the forest on a large scale appears to have taken place during the Saxon Period. Kemble, in his well-known work, The Saxons in England, fully describes the conditions under which these people existed. He supposes that every settlement or community was surrounded by a tract of forest or waste, and which separated the possessions of one tribe from those of another. This waste belonged to the community, and no individual had a right to appropriate or alter its character without the consent of the former. The boundaries of each tract of waste, or " mark " as it was called in those days, were clearly defined, and the usual boundary marks appear to have been trees which were specifically mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon charters, such as the oak, ash, beech, thorn, elder, lime, and birch. It was expressly forbidden to cut or destroy these trees, many of which are said to have been of peculiar size or beauty, and carved with the figures of birds and beasts. As time went on, these village communities were increased in number and the originals in size, until they assumed the proportion of towns, and gradually led to the appropriation of larger tracts of waste or forest for purposes of cultivation or building. Still the Saxons appear to have paid great attention to the preservation of the main characters of the forests, and even in their time no great process of clearing went on, so far as we know. They paid special attention to the preservation of the oak on account of its value for providing food for swine and deer, and they probably laid the foundations of those forest laws which assumed such importance in later times.

Although Canute is generally credited with having drawn up the first comprehensive code of forest laws, it was not until the arrival of the Normans that these laws assumed that objectionable character which we know to have been the case during that period. The highest existing authority on these laws is Manwood, who gives us a very clear idea of their far-reaching and comprehensive nature. According to him, the king could seize upon any tract of country by issuing a Commission under the Great Seal, instructing certain persons to make a forest in such a place as he might choose and lay out the boundaries. This forest had to be stocked with deer in order to bring it within the provisions of the forest laws, and it was in the maintenance and preservation of these animals that the greatest injustice and tyranny appears to have been exercised upon the inhabitants in and around the royal forests. Freeholders were entitled to occupy and retain their lands after, as before, the formation of the forest, but they were prohibited from erecting fences high enough to keep out the deer from feeding upon their crops. They could not cut down woods upon their freeholds without the consent of the king's forester, and the latter had the right of cutting the boughs of ash and other trees upon freehold lands within the forest, to serve as food for deer when required. The penalty for killing deer in a royal forest was death, while the cutting down of an oak carried with it a fine of 20s. In return for the conditions imposed upon them, the freeholders had rights of pasturage and fuel in the forest, although certain animals, such as sheep, swine, goats, etc., were not allowed, and certain seasons of the year were regarded as closed periods with respect to all animals. Those having parks within the forest had to prevent the deer from entering them, or they were considered as belonging to the forest when this occurred.

The severity of these laws is said to have been one of the causes which brought about the passing of the Magna Charta, with which was associated the Charta Foresta. This latter did away with a great many restrictions which had so far been imposed upon the freeholders of the forest, and threw out a great deal of land which had hitherto been regarded as within the boundaries of the forests. In the year 1300 a survey was made of all royal forests, and the land which had been appropriated and added to existing forests at an earlier period again restored to its owners. These surveys were known as Perambulations, and copies of them are still preserved in the Forest Eoll.

About this period the greatest clearance of woodland generally appears to have taken place. In the reign of Edward in. great strides in the social and industrial condition of the country took place. Houses which had hitherto been constructed of mud or " wattle or daub," as it was termed, began to be built of timber, and agriculture was making greater demands upon the land of the country, and the increase of population required the increased utilisation of land for various purposes. In the reign of Henry m. the Statute of Merton was passed, by which lords of the manors were enabled to enclose portions of their waste, provided sufficient was left for the needs of the commoners. No doubt, the provisions of this Act were taken full advantage of by lords of the manor, and was the commencement of that process of enclosure which practically terminated in the eighteenth century. Its effect upon the natural forest of the country, combined with the gradual reduction of the area devoted entirely to the sport of the Sovereign, combined to bring the extent of land occupied by wastes and forest down to about half the total area of the country by the time of Henry vm. It is evident that the stock of timber by this time had been greatly reduced. The increasing flocks and herds and the general absence of enclosed woodland interfered greatly with that natural regeneration which went on at an earlier period without any serious interruption. In this reign, too, the dissolution of the monasteries converted a great deal of woodland, which had hitherto been held in trust for the good of these bodies, into the lands of private estates, upon which no restrictions existed regarding its sale or destruction. At any rate, it was during this reign that one of the first Acts connected with the preservation and growing of timber trees was passed.

This Act provided that, in copse or underwood felled at twenty-four years' growth, twelve standards or store oaks should be left on each acre, or, in default of oak, so many elm, ash, or beech. The penalty for neglecting to obey this law was a fine of 3s. 4d. for every standard, one-half of which should go to the Crown, and the other to the informer. When cut under fourteen years of age, the ground had to be enclosed or protected for four years, and no calves were to be turned in under two years, or cattle under four years. Cutting trees on waste or common lands was to be punished by forfeiting 6s. 8d. for every tree so cut, but in the county of Cornwall, within two miles of the sea, trees might be felled when dead on the top.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find considerable references in manuscripts and records to the growing scarcity of timber. In the Breviary of Suffolk, written by Eobert Eeyce in 1618, he complains that " timber is nothing so plentiful as of late days ; what with multiplicity of curious buildings, variety of costly shipping, and various other causes, hath almost totally consumed our timber, a decay long since espied, but hereafter will be more bewailed,

L unless there be some universal care someways to repair so important a ruin."

In the Paston Letters a reference is also made to the scarcity of timber in Suffolk, or rather to the great clearing which preceded it. Both Pepys and Evelyn also have much to tell us about the decreasing supply and great neglect of woodlands in their time, and it was to the latter that we owe ,_Jkhat ancient text-book on forestry known as Syha. During

\ the reign of Charles I. and the period occupied by the Commonwealth, both timber and woodlands suffered a great decrease. Eoyal forests were sold to private individuals in return for cash, the timber they contained was felled, and the troubled times of the Civil War did much to increase the prevailing neglect. Many of our parks and woodlands were wasted and destroyed during the Civil War, for the mere sake of spoiling the property of their owners. Trees were cut down and sold for a few pence apiece, park palings were pulled up and burnt, and everything possible that could be done to disfigure the estates owned by the opposing parties

Vcarried out.

About this time the woodlands of the country chiefly consisted of coppice with standards on the drier soils, while swampy and boggy spots were occupied by alder coppice, known at that time as " alder moors." During this period surveys were made of all lands previously in the possession of the Crown, and valuations made of the coppice and timber. In fact, every care seems to have been taken that the stock of timber in the country at this time should be carefully preserved, and there is no reason to suppose that the waste referred to above continued after order was restored.

But, while many attempts were made to preserve existing supplies, there is little evidence that any serious attempt at the improvement or extension of woods was made until the end of the seventeenth century. When Evelyn read his famous discourse before the Eoyal Society in 1662, the end was reached of a long period of neglect and indifference to the claims of economic forestry. It was at last being recognised that the efforts hitherto made to maintain the stock of timber in the country were inadequate. The importance of the navy to national progress, and its de-

Al.DER MOOR.

AVENUE IN I;TH CENTURY GROVE.

pendence upon a supply of oak timber, roused the attention of statesmen and politicians to the condition of the Crown forests, which up to that time were the chief sources of naval timber. Down to this time the stock of natural timber seems to have been amply sufficient to meet the domestic and industrial needs of the country ; but the smelting of iron in Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, the increased use of timber in architecture, and the general increase in the population, all combined to render a supply of this commodity extremely uncertain, and it was beginning to be realised that energetic measures would have to be taken if a serious timber famine was to be averted. It was about this time that the first signs of economic forestry began to show themselves on the Crown lands. Enclosures were made in the royal forests and sown with acorns, beech-masts, etc., greater attention was paid to the exclusion of cattle and the protection of seedlings, and a more accurate classification of the timber- ; growing capabilities of the Crown lands made.

The woods of private estates before this time must have been on a very small scale. Hitherto the waste of the manor had provided a sufficient stock of timber for home use and building purposes, agriculture, and fuel — all of which had to be provided in the immediate vicinity, owing to the difficulties of transport and the absence of good roads ; but as these manorial wastes were reduced by progressive enclosure, the lord of the manor was compelled to turn his attention to the cultivation of timber and underwood on his own demesne land. No doubt, small enclosures existed as far back as Saxon times, for frequent reference is made to them in Domesday, but beyond the fact that they were divided from the waste over which common rights existed, there is no evidence to show that sylviculture in any shape or form was! practised. The earliest plantation in Windsor Park is said to have been made or sown in 1580, and is claimed as the true progenitor, both of the modern royal woods of England f and also of the system of rearing oaks where they never previously existed. Whether this claim can be substantiated or not we do not pretend to say, but there is little doubt that ordinary plantations were not made on anything like a large scale until after the Eestoration.

The more peaceful condition of the country which followed this epoch in our history doubtless encouraged landowners in improving their estates, and the introduction of the French style of landscape gardening stimulated tree planting, and gave planters new ideas regarding their functions on a residential estate. Many of the most famous country seats were laid out about this time, and although Evelyn has been termed the father of English planters, we doubt very much if he did more than record the prevailing practice of arboriculture in his day. A great many of his recommendations savour more of the ideal than the real, and it is difficult to gather from his work the extent or the advancement of forest planting in the seventeenth century. Enclosed