xxii Appendix No. 1.
Forest. And they urge emphatically that if deep-drainage is continued to
be pursued, the entire character of the fauna and flora of the Forest
must inevitably undergo a most considerable change.
II.
The Teachings of Botany as to the Management of Forests.
By Professor G. S. Boulger, F.L.S., F.G.S.
In England there has long been a most erroneous idea as to the meaning
of the word Forestry. Our woodlands have been looked upon in the main
as game-preserves, or as merely costly ornaments to a residential estate.
The country was in early times cleared of its very general forest-growth,
as indicated by the word " field," i.e., " felled " clearing, except in those
parts, such as the New Bed Sandstone conglomerates of Sherwood and
Trentham, the Eocene sands and clays of South Hampshire, and the
gravels of Epping, where the geological nature of the soil rendered it
worthless, at least in early times, for agricultural purposes. The growth
of timber for profit in England has been mainly conducted in small
artificial plantations not managed according to the natural method. This
natural method consists in growing together trees of different ages, and
merely substituting the annual felling of mature timber for the natural
fall of aged and decayed trees. The reproduction is by seeding, or, failing
that, by individual planting from a nursery. On the other hand, felling by
compartments, all the trees in each compartment being of one age, and
thus clearing the land periodically, is an extravagant and unnatural
method, necessitating entire reliance on planting. As has been often
shown, after a fire or other clearing, an entirely distinct group of trees will
spring up, and when these are cleared a third kind, and so on; and con-
tinental experience has proved the growth of a forest to become in this
way very irregular and uncertain as a source of revenue. Trees do not
absolutely require felling, if not grown for profit, the struggle for existence
and the death of aged trees securing the health of the survivors. It may
be taken for granted that where trees have flourished for centuries the best
policy, where no increase of income is sought for, is to leave them alone.
Where, however, it is desired to plant tracts not at present under wood-
land, it may be necessary in some cases to prepare the land for the
purpose. There is an apparent conflict of opinion on the important
question of draining. Thus an experienced English forester, Mr. Lewis
Bayne, writes, " Draining of young plantations is a course of prepara-
tion that cannot safely be dispensed with. Where the ground is naturally
dry, light, and friable, such preliminary operation may be dispensed with;
and, indeed, further loosening or draining may, in certain circumstances,
be detrimental rather than favourable to the plants." Again, Brown, the
author of ' The Forester,' referring especially to diseases of the larch, says,
" To the want of draining may be attributed most cases of unhealthiness
in plantations for forty years past;" and Mr. Grigor writes, " In Scottish
moorlands more plants, perhaps, have been lost by being inserted into
ground too wet than by any other cause, and it is seldom that any consi-
derable extent of ground is found adapted for plantation without some
parts requiring to be drained." On the other hand, the late Professor
Bagneris, of Nancy, a great authority, wrote, " As for draining, except in
cases of stagnant pools, it must be resorted to with great moderation. A
few ditches judiciously dug ensure sufficient drainage, for it must not be
forgotten that our most valuable species delight in very moist and even wet
soils, e. g., the pedunculate oak, ash, elm, hornbeam, spruce fir, and
alder. This has been sometimes forgotten. Whenever the water is not