106 EPPING FOREST.
merciless treatment in the past, we can afford to
look back leniently on this ancient right, unique
in its way, on account of the important part which
it bore in the preservation of the Forest (see p. 20).
It is now abolished for ever, and those who exer-
cised it were compensated under the orders of the
arbitrator. Henceforth it is one of the most im-
portant duties of those who have the control of
the Forest, to see that the restoring power of
nature has fair play as soon as possible.
In most of the Forest groves a fair number of
" spear " or straight-grown trees, especially oaks,
have been suffered to grow unmutilated, and
though the finest have been removed by those
who had the right to do so in bygone times, there
are many left, of varying ages, up to 150 or 200
years, which, with proper attention, will make fine
timber trees for those who come after us. A new
danger, however, now threatens the woods, and
one which can only be averted by timely care and
foresight. Throughout nearly the whole of the
wooded portion of the Forest the pollards stand
far too closely for healthy development. In some
parts the stems are ranked so thickly that 3000
have been counted to a single acre. When the
branches were cut back to the stem every few
years, this was of little consequence. They had not
time to spread and spoil one another before they
were again ruthlessly " lopped." The operation
of lopping, though very disfiguring for the time,
had, at least, the effect of letting in light and air,
and encouraging a splendid undergrowth of hollies,
thorns, bramble, and bracken, as well as seedling
trees. To leave the whole to grow would be
a fatal mistake, which would result in a weak