Appendix No. 1.
xli
grows freely from self-sown seed in the beautiful Oak Hill Enclosure.
We saw only the footprints of the deer on the bank of one of the most
unsightly and unwarrantable "improvements" ever perpetrated. This
was the cutting of what was once a swift, though winding, stream, divid-
ing the manors of Theydon and Epping, into a square, straight, unsightly
ditch. The Verderers, who from their local knowledge are entitled to a
large share in the management of such matters, assured us that this ditch
had not been authorised by them.
We then arrived at Ambresbury Banks, where our fears of over-felling
were more completely realised than at any other point. Within this
noble earthwork the Pollards were too thick in places ; but a wholesale
clearing had been effected, including many of the soundest trees, in some
places three or four together, and not only within but upon the vallum,
so that its surface will be unnecessarily exposed to rapid denudation by
the rain.
Walking next from the "Wake Arms" across some heathery waste of
extreme beauty, which one would hardly wish to reduce in area by
planting, we followed the deep-cut course of an efficient, though winding,
natural watercourse, till we reached a hideous example of the ruin wrought
by the reckless polling in the past—a grove mainly of Beech, once cut
near the ground, so that their gnarled, diseased, and stunted stems
sprang in groups of from three to twenty from a single stool. It had been
estimated that, counting these separately, there were 1200 to the acre;
but though certainly three out of four could well be spared, it would be
doubtful if even the most careful selection of the healthiest and most
picturesque of these Beeches would be of any use, so thoroughly are they
crippled. I am inclined to doubt whether they will ever run up into the
monotonously vertical branches which we saw in a wood of Hornbeam
near Little Monk Wood, which, having escaped the last lopping-rotation
before the abolition of this right, have been uncut for about thirty years,
and inhibit the condition which Hawkwood is approaching. It is, how-
ever,' doubtful whether selected trees, even from among these, would
not feather out in a drooping manner if allowed room and light and
re-pollarded.
Grossing Sandpit Plain—a bare strip that might be much improved by
clumps of Holly, Cherry, Crab, or other trees—we saw on our left some
fallow fields on the outskirts of Loughton that would be the better for
being entirely planted, not being, like Chingford Plain, of any real use in
their present condition.
A backward glance of regret at a long, broad, stiff, straight, and
unsightly clearing, called a " green ride," perpetrated soon after the Cor-
poration got possession, and a parting laugh at a brick-built waterfall,
over which the water no longer falls, and which may soon be mercifully
destroyed, were our last glimpses of the Forest.
The chief conclusions to which I have come with reference to the
management of the Forest are :—
1st. That it is to be regretted that, during five years' occupation, the
Conservators should have done practically no planting. 2nd. That,
though perhaps it may have been necessary to make and repair certain
roadways and to clear "rides" through the Forest, no more roads are
now required ; that the "rides" have been cut too straight, and that any
additional ones, requisite for the prevention of forest fires or merely for
beauty, should be far less formal. 3rd. That, seeing the many natural
watercourses of the Forest, after the experience of unusually wet seasons,
it appears that no more drainage is required, but that the planting of
Alder, Willows, Poplars, and other trees, will be a more natural way of
rendering the surface drier. 4th. That, though much felling undoubtedly