The management of English woodlands

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Introduction

The first question in practical forestry is, What kind of trees should be planted ? This work has been written under the conviction that the English planter who plants his woods with a view to the realisation of a profit by the sale of the mature timber must rely mainly on three trees only, namely, larch, ash, and oak. Other trees may be valuable in particular situations or with reference to particular markets, but as the main sources of profit from planting they cannot equal larch, ash, and oak.

The question, What kind of trees should be planted ? may be answered by saying, Only those kinds which have been proved to be attractive to English timber-merchants; other kinds are experimental. A prudent man, when he plants in the hope of realising a profit, will keep his experiments within moderate limits.

Other trees may in some circumstances be

vu viii INTRODUCTION

planted with advantage. Some districts are particularly suitable for other trees, which there grow to a large size and command a ready market. Where local circumstances thus point out a tree, it should be planted. Also a planter, although anxious to make a profit, will probably not be exclusively influenced by financial considerations, and will plant some trees, not very likely to sell well, in order to gratify his aesthetic taste, because they add beauty and variety to the wood. Still, these trees require a special reason to justify their place in a wood. In the point of view of planting for a profit, larch, ash, and oak stand in a class by themselves.

The climate of Great Britain is very favourable to the growth of ash, oak, and all broad-leaved trees. It is not quite as good for larch as the climate of Switzerland, but it is better than that of the greater part of France and Germany.

The soil of woodlands is almost always very poor. As a rule no land is planted in countries of settled civilisation, if it can be used for agriculture. The task of the forester is to grow woods on land which in quality is between the worst agricultural land and sterility.

The English planter suffers from many dis-

INTRODUCTION ix

advantages. One of these is the great difference in price between the timber in the round which he sells and the sawn timber. Not unusually the price of sawn timber is more than three times per cubic foot the price of the tree from which it has been cut. The important fact which the timber-grower should always remember is that his margin of profit is very small. The feller, hauler, railway company, saw-mill, and timber-merchant absorb so much of the money which the ultimate customer pays, that a very small residue is left for the grower of the timber. The classification enforced by the railway companies, their charges and their preferential treatment of foreign timber, may possibly be justified by cogent reasons, but it cannot be denied that they produce a considerable diminution of the price which a timber-grower might obtain under more favourable conditions. There is hardly any grower of a natural product who has so small a proportion of the profit made by the sale of the converted article as the grower of timber in England. Better organisation among timber-growers and better arrangements for marketing their timber might prevent, or at least lessen, these disadvantages. At the present time they exist, and cannot be ignored in any x INTRODUCTION

consideration of the subject of commercial forestry.

The public burdens on woodlands are not the least of the disadvantages which attend timber-growing in Great Britain. Woodlands are subject to the poor rates on an assessment of their prairie value, and they do not share in the one-half exemption given by the Agricultural Rating Act to agricultural land. They are assessed for Income Tax under Schedule A at a figure which is usually the same as the Poor Law Assessment. They are also assessed for Income Tax under Schedule B at the same figure, or alternatively they are assessed under Schedule D if the timber-grower so elects. The timber, when felled or sold, is liable to death duties at the rates attributable to the value of the estate on which it grew. The result is that English woodlands are subject to heavy annual payments in each of the many years that elapse between the planting and the sale of the mature crop, and also a heavy deduction for death duties is made from the sale price.

The greater part of the imported timber sold

in England in competition with British-grown timber is either Scandinavian and Baltic or Canadian. It is self-sown on land which is

INTRODUCTION xi

practically free from taxation, and, in the majority of cases it is water-borne from the forest to the English docks. France and Germany are timberimporting countries.

The English planter has the disadvantages set out in the • preceeding paragraphs. Also the conditions of climate and market are different from those on the Continent or in America. English forestry cannot, therefore, from the point of view of an owner or land-agent, be adequately treated as if it were merely a branch of continental or world-wide forestry.

A thoughtful observer who considers the difficulty of forestry and the disadvantages which beset English owners will be amazed at the excellence and the quantity of the timber in English woods. In the past a depreciation of English woodland management has been fashionable, and considered to be some proof of superior wisdom and freedom from insular prejudice. At the beginning of the war there were numerous letters in the public press and speeches by those who professed to speak with expert knowledge, stating that, if the war lasted two years, all the woods in the country would be unable to produce sufficient pit-props for the mines. The great masses of plantations which now exist at the xii INTRODUCTION

end of a four-years war show that the quantity of timber in English woods had been grossly under-estimated.

The public returns show that from 1914 to 1916 the imports of timber had fallen from eight million loads to six million loads. Possibly these figures do not include all the timber imported into England by the Government, nor all the foreign timber imported into France for the use of the army. Whatever may be the precise figures there can be no doubt that during the war the timber used for pit-props and for army purposes, both in France and England, was mainly drawn from the woodlands of the United Kingdom. There is also no doubt that the country has taken this timber at very cheap rates. No timber during this war, not even the best qualities of ash, has made better prices than were obtained during the Napoleonic wars. Nearly all woods have been sold at a figure which represents less than 4 per cent, of the capital sunk in their production. If there are any woods which sold for more than 4 per cent, of the cost of production they must be extremely exceptional cases. Most timber sold during the war was taken at prices compulsorily fixed by the Timber Controller or the War Losses Com-

INTRODUCTION xiii

mission. No figures have been published showing on what basis they proceeded in fixing prices, but it is fairly certain that the compulsory prices for oak gave the grower not more than 1 or 1| per cent, of the cost of production, and that the price of ash and pit-props never exceeded 4 per cent.

Forestry, like all other arts for growing natural products, has three main divisions : the selection and preparation of the soil, the cultivation and harvest of the crop, and the sale of the crop, which is the last in date, but is the aim which the grower has in view from the beginning. A farmer can generally anticipate, within reasonable limits, the price which his crop will bring, and can regulate his cultivation accordingly. If he is mistaken he loses the labour and expense of only one year. A tree-grower can form no notion of the price of his crop fifty or a hundred years later than the planting. His only plan is to make the assumption that during the growth of the wood the price of timber will not fall. If his market, owing to altered circumstances, fails, and his calculation of the price proves to be mistaken, he loses the labour and expense of many years. As for example, when a change in trade has depreciated the value of the crop xiv INTRODUCTION

of a coppice wood that had been very remunerative, it may be impossible either to find a purchaser for the crop or to alter the method of management without incurring excessive cost.

The long period between the planting of young trees and the harvest of the mature timber has serious effects. By reducing the chance that the planter will reap a personal benefit from his expense and labour, it causes a reluctance to plant. The long period of growth also prevents the same man who plants the crop from personal observation of it from the start to the finish. Many years may pass before the consequences of a mistaken method become evident. Mistakes can rarely be remedied. Experiments are very difficult to contrive.

A farmer knows from books and teaching the usual practice of growing a crop, but for the details of cultivation he mainly relies on his own observation or the consensus of the views held by the most intelligent farmers in his neighbourhood. As the result of successive trials for innumerable years it becomes known what fields are suited for any crop, what variety of seed and what quantity should be sown, and all the

INTRODUCTION xv

other details of cultivation have been repeatedly tested.

In forestry it is different. In many cases there is no past history of the land which can give assistance to the forester. There is no knowledge of the capacity of the site for growing timber, gained by the experience of many crops of timber on that land. A landowner may know that a plot of land is apparently such as is usually suitable for certain trees, and that these trees are usually planted of a certain size and distance apart, but he has no past experiments to guide him in deciding how far the general rules should be varied to meet the local peculiarities of his own land, and whether the land is really as suitable for timber as it seems to be.

Forestry is an art, the rules of which cannot be stated with precision. Rules may be of great value. A forester who has an adequate knowledge of the methods by which success has been obtained by others is more likely to be successful than another man of equal ability who has no other guide than his own experience. But no rules can apply accurately to the local peculiarities of different properties. Success in forestry mainly depends on personal observation and practical sagacity. It is a great mistake xvi INTRODUCTION

i i i

to demand in any art more accuracy than the subject admits, or to assume, without proof, j that forestry is capable of precise rules, like the arts of building or painting. If rules of forestry could be discovered which were universal, precise, and useful, the knowledge of them would

not make a man a forester. They would be like

i

a good library, which is useful but does not make a man a good scholar. 1

The modern method of education increases

i

the tendency to over-estimate the theoretical side of forestry and to ignore the practical difficulties. A man who has been taught forestry in a college by means of lectures and examinations, joined to occasional excursions in woods, has no experience in overcoming the difficulties of daily work in the woods, and therefore they do not appear to him to be of great importance. He cannot judge how far he is able to meet them, or to what extent they interfere with the possibility of carrying out what he may rightly consider to be the best method of management. The practical difficulties of forestry will be apparent to any one as soon as he undertakes the management of woodlands. The total of all his expenses must be kept below the total of all his receipts, and timber in comparison with.

INTRODUCTION xvii

other crops brings very small receipts ; therefore,

the forester is always hampered by the necessity

of exercising a rigid economy. The site of his

woods may be the poorest soil in the country, else. Frequently the woods will be in remote

districts and with bad roads, so that haulage,

the supply of labour, and supervision will be

difficult and expensive. In winter prolonged

periods of bad weather may stop all work. In

summer there may be droughts, killing young

trees and exposing the woods to the risk of fire.

Gales of wind will injure the plantations.

Rabbits and trespassing sheep and cattle may,

in spite of the utmost care and vigilance, do

serious damage. Sometimes, for no apparent

reason, the growth of woods will disappoint the

forester. When the woods are ripe for sale the

forester must deal with timber-merchants, a

class of men whose training, on whatever lines

it may have been conducted, has made them

most efficient in the protection of their own

interests.

Ignorance of practical difficulties produces

extravagant promises of success. If it is objected

to the enthusiast that his promises cannot be

fulfilled, unless his woods grow much larger

b xviii INTRODUCTION

quantities of timber than have hitherto been seen in English woods, he confidently replies that there will be a great difference in the quantity and quality of the timber, because eariier woods were the result of rule-of-thumb practice, while his woods, as the result of sound principles and scientific knowledge in forestry, will be fully stocked with excellent timber. The sanguine prophet of great improvements in forestry due to scientific knowledge has at least one undoubted source of comfort, his views cannot receive an early refutation. Before the woods grow to maturity and the results are known, both he and his critics will for the most part have left this world.

The mere failure of a wood to thrive or to produce an adequate income does not necessarily involve blame to the planter or to the present owner, if they are different persons. Success cannot be always attained in attempts to grow timber crops upon land on the margin of sterility. In the cultivation of such land some failures are inevitable: the result may show that enclosure and planting have done no more than substitute dead and stunted trees in the place of worthless herbage. Nor is the existence of a crop of trees inferior to what could grow on

INTRODUCTION xix

the same land necessarily a proof of bad management. The cost of cutting down the unprofitable trees and replanting the land may be so great compared with any probable receipts that it would be wise to allow the wood to remain in the present state.

In all countries the management of woodlands artificially created must be a difficult art, because it means growing good crops on poor land. The long period of the growth of the trees deprives the forester of the advantage of the personal observation and experiment which help the farmer. In Great Britain the burdens of taxation and foreign competition are especially severe. The result is that the account of expenses and receipts of forestry in England cannot be made to square unless the planter shows great care in the planting and the maintenance of his woodlands, methodical management, adroitness in selling the timber, and always avoids spending money on expensive methods when adequate methods, can be followed at moderate cost.

Chapter I

Economy in planting is essential if plantations are expected to produce a profit. In the long interval between the planting of the young trees and the sale of the mature trees the planter loses his money and the interest which that money would have produced; therefore, in the accounts which show the financial results of the plantation, compound interest must be charged. In accounts taken at compound interest over long periods items at the commencement of the account accumulate to a very large extent. It is clear that unless the total amount on the debit side of the account is to exceed any sum which is likely to be produced by the sale of the mature trees, the initial cost, that is, the cost of planting, must be kept to the lowest possible figure.

It may be objected to the plea for great economy in planting that the long interval between the planting and the final sale makes

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it certain in most cases that the same man who plants will never sell the mature trees, and that therefore planting cannot be looked at merely as a commercial undertaking, and also that a man who plants from a sense of duty or the love of seeing on his land thriving plantations will not pay much attention to the expenditure in planting of a few pounds more or less per acre. There may be something in the argument that planting cannot be considered as simply a commercial undertaking, but even proof that there is no pecuniary profit in planting can be no excuse for unnecessary expenditure.

Altitude has little or no effect on the climate in the British Isles. There are no lofty ranges of hills, where the traveller, as he ascends, passes through different zones of climate. Altitude in this country is important to the planter, as it increases the exposure to gales and to denudation. There are very few flourishing woods above the 1,000-foot contour-line. Planting at a greater altitude is, as a general rule, a very doubtful experiment, but this rule can be modified by local circumstances. The situation of plantations on high ground is relative. Trees thrive better at 1,100 or 1,200 feet if protected by still higher hills, than many planted at 800 or 900 feet not so protected- A low altitude is not, in itself, an advantage. Lands exposed to gales from the sea and large level plains are unfavourable for planting, however moderate their altitude may be.

The geological character of a district, unless it is a limestone or chalk formation, does not very seriously affect the size or the kind of the trees which can grow on it. As a general rule, if a planter is satisfied with the visible soil, he need not inquire into the nature of the underlying rock on which it rests.

The aspect of a wood does not have a very important influence on the growth of the trees. A north aspect is free from sudden variations of temperature, and in spring the new buds are retarded, so that there is a diminished chance that they will be injured by late frosts. Trees on a south aspect are liable to be brought into bud by the heat of the sun, and so become more susceptible to injury by frost at night. A high dry bank facing south is the worst aspect, but the injurious effects of this aspect are mainly confined to the early years of the plantation. All trees, but particularly beech and larch, when planted on a dry south bank, may die in large numbers if the next summer after planting is hot and dry. If that summer is rainy, the probability is that the young trees will establish themselves and afterwards grow well. Some excellent woods grow on south banks.

A bank with a northerly aspect is more likely to be suitable for a plantation than a bank with any other aspect. Such a bank is free from the danger of being burnt by the sun, and is not generally exposed to violent winds, and the buds of young trees are not brought out prematurely.

Banks with an easterly or westerly aspect are greatly improved for planting by the presence of some old trees on the side facing the prevailing wind.

Situation and soil are important matters for the consideration of a planter. One of the practical difficulties of planting is that, as a rule, a planter has not much choice in the selection of the site of his proposed plantation. He cannot expect to grow any trees equal to the famous trees of past generations. They grew in good land and were probably self-sown, and by a lucky chance escaped from being browsed by cattle in infancy. In these days good lands are used for farming, and plantations are confined to the inferior soils. On such soils there is not nutriment enough to grow great masses of wood.

The improvement of damp situations by drainage is possible. A few drains to take the water from hollows or swampy places are useful and not expensive. A regular drainage system is expensive, and should not be attempted unless expense need not be considered. If there is so much stagnant water that drainage is necessary, it is a prudent course to leave the land implanted.

Instead of adapting damp ground to the growth of trees which cannot thrive in it as long as it is damp, the best plan is to plant trees which naturally thrive in damp ground, such as ash, Sitka spruce, alder, and black Italian poplar.

In addition to the expense of extensive drainage, there is the further objection that it may involve over-drainage. The drains may remove a dampness which is essential to fertility. It is not uncommon to find woods intersected with deep ditches and composed of stunted and stagheaded trees, suffering from drought. The roots of the trees to some extent themselves act as drains. They suck up the water, and thus diminish the dampness in the ground. Shallow pools frequently dry up when woods grow round them. Still, this suction of water by the roots of trees is very limited in extent. Trees are frequently planted along mill-courses and small streams, and do not seem to diminish the flow of the water.

Trenching the ground is, like a regular system of drainage, very expensive. It may in some cases enable trees to grow where otherwise they could not live, or it may give trees a much quicker start than they would have without it, but as a general rule better results are obtained by a choice of trees suitable for the existing conditions of the soil than by any attempt to alter the soil conditions. The benefit given by trenching seems to be confined to the early years of the trees. After fifteen to twenty years from the planting it is rarely possible to see any difference between those planted on trenched ground and those on untrenched ground. The cost of trenching makes it extremely uncommon in any woodlands managed on a commercial basis and with a view to the realisation of profits.

Ploughing the land in strips as a preparation for planting is on flat land sometimes both useful and economical. It loosens the soil more effectually than mere digging the holes, and also reduces the probability that the young trees will be over-topped by heather, fern, or gorse.

The formation of fences is an expensive item. The cost of erecting a fence round a small plantation, say, one of four acres or less, may vary very much according to the cost of labour and material in the locality of the plantation, but in every case the fence would almost certainly cost more than the trees. The larger the plantation the less is the cost per acre. The ratio of increase between acreage and fences, assuming that the plantation is in the form approximately of a square, is that a fourfold increase of acreage requires a twofold increase of fences. Suppose that a plantation of four acres cost £12 for fences — rthat is, £3 per acre — then sixteen acres require £24, or £1 10$. per acre, and sixty-four acres require £48, or 15s. per acre. A forty-acre plantation costs for the erection and maintenance of the fences only double a ten-acre plantation.

Long rectangular plantations have the largest amount of fences per acre. Circular fences should be avoided, because they are difficult to erect.

In order to make use of existing fences, and so reduce the cost, a plantation should, if possible, be made on the site of an old wood or on land adjoining an old wood; and in the case of a plantation made on land separate from other woods, entire fields should be planted, so that use can be made of the existing fences, and if this is impossible, the plantation should be of as large an extent as circumstances permit.

Wherever the woods are of a straggling and irregular form it is generally possible, by planting land between the woods, to make a great reduction in the amount of fencing compared with the acreage of the woods.

The usual form of a new plantation-fence is double : there is a fence of wire-strands or rails, and on the inside of that fence a hedge is planted. The thorn hedge is intended to be the permanent protection of the plantation, and the wire or wood fence to be the temporary protection of the thorn hedge. In most cases the thorn hedge should be omitted; it causes considerable expense in planting and subsequent main* tenance. If the trees are planted close to the hedge it rarely grows satisfactorily, and if a space of 8 or 10 feet on the inside of the hedge is left unplanted, there is a serious loss of ground. The hedge is generally unnecessary. A wellmade fence will last at least twelve years, and when decay begins the plantation should supply from thinnings materials for repairs.

Local habit generally shows what is the most convenient fence, but in the absence of some good reason to the contrary a wire fence should be adopted. The posts should be 8 feet apart, 2 feet 6 inches in the ground, and 5 feet above the ground, of oak or larch preferably, and felled near the proposed fence so that the cost of haulage may be moderate. They should, if possible, be barked a few months before erection and allowed to season. Soft and perishable wood can be used for fencing if creosoted* Creosoted posts, concrete posts, or iron standards can be used whenever there are no natural posts available. The preference of either of these depends on the price for which they can be brought to the fence. The direction of a new fence should be so laid out that it does not, unless absolutely necessary, cross ground to which the fencing materials can be carried only by hand.

A wooden rail at about 14 inches from the ground binds the posts together and strengthens the fence; it also hinders sheep from pushing through the wires. A barbed wire, with barbs 6 inches apart, is most useful when fixed as the

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top wire at about 5 feet from the ground. In that position it hinders transit by trespassers and pushing by cattle and horses. Two plain wires between the barbed wire and the rail and one under the rail make a useful fence, and cost as much as can prudently be allotted to making a fence.

Galvanised wire has in recent years almost superseded ungalvanised. It is almost certainly much more immune from destruction by rust, but there has not been sufficient time to definitely decide how it compares with ungalvanised in strength and duration.

Wire netting, 4 feet high on stout supports 8 feet apart, is very convenient as a temporary fence on ground wfth a level surface. There should be a barbed wire at the top and another 4 inches from the bottom of the netting. The netting is more expensive than wires, but costs much less in the labour of erection, and can be removed and used elsewhere.

The objection to small woods is confined to those which require new fencing, and is based only on expense. As regards the growth of the trees small woods have advantages over larger woods. If instead of clear-cutting and replanting a block of sixteen acres in a large wood two separate blocks of eight acres each had been clear-cut and replanted, the probabilities of success would have been increased. The larger the size of the plantations the more easily disease spreads, and the free circulation of the air in the centre of large plantations is difficult.

Plantations in the middle of larger woods should not be of a very small size, such as an acre or less. The tall trees of the rest of the wood surround small plots of ground like walls, excluding unduly light and air. Also the fog and mist collect in small plots.

Fencing with rabbit-proof netting is a great addition to the cost of a plantation and is very frequently useless. Unless the netting is regularly inspected the rabbits will make burrows under it. In winter the snow drifts against the netting and the rabbits walk over it. Constant warfare against the rabbits is a much better protection to the young trees than netting. Snares will thin the numbers of the rabbits, but will not exterminate them. Ferrets must be also employed. A landowner, before he plants land near the estate of a neighbour who does not keep down the rabbits, should consider very carefully if there is much probability that a plantation in that position will be remunerative.