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EPPING FOREST
which have unfortunately been introduced into
the Forest, I may mention the hard outlines which
form the edges of old enclosures, now thrown
open, or of straight rides injudiciously cut through
the Forest. It is possible to the experienced
forester, who uses his axe as the artist wields his
brush, to substitute a perfectly natural and soft
outline. I may cite what was done on the edge
of the Fairmead Thicket, facing the Forest Hotel,
and on the " Clay Road," near Baldwin's Hill,
a few years ago—an operation much criticised at
the time. I venture to think that that action
was justified, and that the criticism was made
with imperfect knowledge of the intention of its
authors.
(4) Reproduction.—Personally I am opposed
to planting on the Forest, except for the purpose
of hiding unsightly objects. In the thicket, at
any rate, nature is well able to sow her seeds in
the most favourable manner, and adequately to
protect the saplings. A grove thus produced is
infinitely more picturesque and diversified than a
planted wood, because the trees are of all stages
and ages of growth, and the fittest survive,
perhaps after some struggles, of which they bear
the signs. An artificial plantation, on the other
hand, is, at all stages, even after hundreds of
years, distinguishable from a natural wood, chiefly
from the reason that the trees are all of the same
age and height, and, being grown with nurses, are
perfectly straight. I especially deprecate the
planting of foreign trees, or abnormal varieties of
native ones. Above all, I object to the intro-
duction, into a deciduous forest, of coniferous
trees which are not suited either to the soil or the
climate. Such exotics at once give an impression
of artificiality and of forced culture.
There is a further cogent reason against the
multiplication of plantations. Such plantations
must be protected with oak posts, which are at
present taken from the thinnings of the Forest.
The oak woods occupy a very limited area, and have
been already considerably drawn upon. Up to