THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
353
of thorns and briars, with hornbeam scrub, and oak and ash saplings are springing
up everywhere among the thorns and hornbeams, and will in time form fine trees,
especially if heavy thinnings are avoided. On the cleared land grass seed had
been sown, and the grass was rapidly covering the ground. Some areas in this
grassland have been fenced in and sown or planted with groups of the local forest
trees, and as shelter is provided to them by thorns and bushes of gorse, tree
growth will gradually assert itself.
There was, however, one point which Professor Fisher desired to bring before
the notice of the management, and that was, why should they not have a small
area, say twenty acres, planted with oak and beech, so as to form eventually a
fine crop of tall trees, like the woods planted in Windsor Forest by the Duchess
of Marlborough and in the New Forest by William III., or the Artistic Section 
in the Forest of Compiegne ?
Professor Fisher alluded to the time and energy which Mr. E. N. Buxton had
devoted to the carrying out the purposes of the London County Council, but a
day would come when his distinguished services would be no longer available—
and woods take a long time to grow. The Council would, therefore, be well
advised in having a scheme of re-afforesting work drawn up, say, for twenty years,
and showing the financial arrangements which are necessary. Such a scheme,
when once agreed upon, should be rigidly adhered to. At the end of the twenty
years a revised scheme would be necessary, and the experience gained during the
first twenty years would greatly assist the Council in its plan of creating another
pleasure-ground for the enormous population under its charge.
There are some grazing rights on the forest area just acquired, and a tendency
had been observed of the right holders using their position to introduce the cattle
of outsiders, who have no rights on the land. These rights should certainly be
properly regulated, and it would be worth while considering whether they could
not be purchased outright by the Council, as the presence of cattle is fatal to
young seedling trees that would otherwise spring up in the grassy glades among
the scrub.
A marked difference between Hainhault Forest and that of Epping lay in the
absence of beech, which grows so well on the sandy hillocks above the clay land
of Epping Forest.1
Essex was the most north-westerly natural habit of the hornbeam. This
small, but extremely hardy, tree formed large forests in Russia, and spread as far
west as the north-east of France. It hardly extended to the west of the river
Seine, as hornbeam cannot compete in height-growth with beech and oak, except
in situations where the beech was kept back by severe spring frosts. These
frosts were specially prevalent on cold, moist, clay-soils that were inimical to
beech, but where oak will still grow, and where the hornbeam, which was a.
shade-bearing tree, formed an excellent underwood beneath the oak trees which
generally required either beech or hornbeam nurses to produce fine timber.
Tea was served in the large barn of Foxborough Farm, and afterwards a
discussion ensued under the chairmanship of Mr. Rudler, the President of the
Club. On the proposal of Prof. Meldola and the President, a cordial vote of
thanks was passed to Mr. Buxton for his kindness in conducting the meeting, and
congratulating him on the successful termination of his long and arduous exertions
in the recovery and re-afforestation of so large a portion of the old forest lands.
1 Consult Mr. Dalton's paper in the present part, ante p. 340.
Y