"A NEW FOREST OF WALTHAM."
25
have followed each other in a natural rotation as undeviating as
any "four-course shift" followed by a Norfolk farmer. Saplings
and shrubs are fighting their battles against odds as great as any
which they have to fight in the primeval woodlands. For the
opportunity for such studies in Plant Ecology, Naturalists owe
a great debt of gratitude, first to Mr. E. N. Buxton to whose
initiative the whole scheme of the re-afforestation is due, next to
those by whose public-spirited assistance the scheme was carried
out, and lastly to the London County Council, in whose hands
the management now rests, and who, it is earnestly to be hoped,
will allow the development of the forest to proceed on Nature's
own lines.
"A NEW FOREST OF WALTHAM."
SECOND NOTICE.
IN the Essex Naturalist lor April 1903 (Vol. xiii., pp. 25-29),
in an article under the above title, we gave a summary of
the negociations which led up to the acquisition of 801.5 acres of
old Hainhault Forest and of the patriotic efforts of Mr. E.
N. Buxton to secure this grand result. Since the article was
written the whole of the lands have come under the management
of the London County Council, and a magnificent public
space has become a national possession forever. In the present
part of our journal an important paper by Messrs. Dent and
Dymond is printed, which contains a sketch of the history of the
Forest, but in addition to this it would seem desirable to
complete the story begun in our first notice, and to place on
permanent record the details of the completion of Mr. Buxton's
scheme.
On page 28 of Volume xiii. the hope was expressed that
the efforts to secure about 78 acres of "Grange Hill Forest,"
near Woodford Bridge, would be successful. That was to cost
£9,000, and it was suggested that the London County Council
should, as subsidiary to the main scheme, acquire this piece of
land and contribute half the cost, the other moiety being raised
locally. About £1,500 was promised by private subscribers, and
£2,000 by the Woodford Urban District Council. But difficulties
arose; the owner of the land would only sell on condition that