The Express.
London, England, 1848-09-13 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER IS, 1848.

jury, smil expose, just as the New Forest and other
steelier prweessione are declared to be now. Accord-
ingly, in 1812,the late Lord Otarnmett, Chief COM-
miarioner of Woods and Forests, obtained an set of
:Lean:est, ender which the forest was subsequently
, the wardenship end deer being abolished,
and the rights of the commoners purchased up by
allotment of a portion of the land. Toe crown ob-
tained, es its share of the forest, about 1,100 sores,
°maiming of a strong clayey land, situated very de-
lightfully about midway between Cowes and New-
port The rest of the property wee parcelled out
among the 0011111 NOWS, and passed into private hands.
Any one who emends the keep of Ceriebrooke
Castle, and takee a glance at the country surrounding
Newport, wll see before him a seen- combining the
finest features of a gentle rural laudecepe. At
another point of view he will survey the ferule
pleasant valley of the Mediae, chequer% d with villas,
groves, and gardens; immediati ly beneath hisa he
sill me the thriving agricultural town of Newport,.
with vessels shippingthe island produce at its wheels
and earn mill., granaries, and malt houses abounding
its its suburbs. Turning round, however, the sane
will be changed, and there will r‘o before him a met
plantation of- oaks and firs, stretching away alte.g the
hulls. far as he can see, in one mouotonoas and me.
lanchely outline. The corn-flail", the gardeus, the
pleasure.ground., and groves are, we would have him
know, the lands acquired in lieu of common rights :
the plantations of fir and young oaks cover the allot-
ment appertaining to the crown
The differeuce evidently arises thus : When the
forest was enclosed the commoners took the ordinary
precaution of mertaining for what their allotment..
were the moat fitted : the Woodiaed F,,reete did nothing
of the mt. The Woods and Foret•ta thought that as
the land was designated "feat," it had better be
created a beret; so they took to planting it with oaks
end firs.
It unfortunately happens that the I-le of Wight,
bring much expo. d to the south-scat use bleats, is
by no means an eligible colony fur young oak plants.
I; as the deputy surveyor tells us, the deMtuctive
sleet of this wind upon timber is even telt in the
New Forget to such an extent " that the old trees are
eat to pieote entirely on the outside, and if you were
to clear them away you might make an inroad through
any wood in the forret," it fellows that a young plan-
tation, situated in the Isle of Wight, must feel the
saute .Hest in a much greater degree. Parkhurst,
ac-
cordingly, was about as bed a place as could have
been selected for the growth of young oak " for our
royal navy."
I But the New Forest must have its colony. In
that domain the crown, it seems, maintains an ex-
tensive nursery. Mr. Commissioner Mara candidly
itformed Lord DUNCAN'd committee that the Scotch
nurserymen supply the New Forest nurseries with
seedling fir plants which are grown is the forest
until they are planted oat. Tnen, it would seem,
quantities of the fir and young oak plants ate chipped
at Lymington, with as mach care es C ptaio Burin
.hipped hie bread-fruit trees in the Bounty, and car-
ried acro-s to Yarmouth, where waggons are toady to
receive them for carriage to Parkhurst. There
they are carefully planted; and there, in nine cam e
out of ten, they rot! The carne process is gone once'
again, until at length a crop of young oaks has bten
raised, and the colony is declared to be very flourish 1,
ing. After all, this is only Downing street over,
again. Our " flourishing colonies' art emigrants have
been Mad after a by no means dissicuslar process.
Downing-street and Whitehall-place evidently act on
the same system.
The plantations in Parkhurst appear to have been
begun in 1812-36 years ago. Yet Mr. Mites
Informs us that there is not a ttee in Parkhurst 20
years old. Tor tact is. that the greater part of the
ground has been planted over and over, and over
spin ! Soil, nature, the very elements themeless,
have been set at defiance, in order that a 1111,011TIO
hobby might be trotted out.
But the serious part of this subject is the expendi-
ture. By the account sent in to the House of
Commons it appears that the income from the 1,100
acres of land at Parkhurst since the inclosure is 1812
has been 18 0001. ; the expenditure, 32,0001. ! At 11.
per awe this lead would have realised in the 36 years
a clear rental of, say 40,0001.; under the present sys-
tem it has seek nearly 14,0001. Nor, looking at the
amount., does there se, m much preselect of improve-
ment The expenditure has rather i crssesd than
otherwise of late year., whilst the receipts for the sale
of fuel-wood, &c., were less by nearly 601. last year
than they were in 1838, about which time an increase
in the produce began to be AM petosble. With re-
gard to any ultimate benefit from the eating, we fear
the present generation must make up their minds
to repose that advantage in favour of their grated- 1
children. Mr. Commiesioner MILNI6 owns that WOO
of the Parkhurst timber will be serviceable for navy
purposes fur 120 years, at lust ; we believe 160
would be nearer the mark. About the year of grace,
2,000, our descendants (should they in those days
want timber for shipbuilding) may therefore hope to
cut en oak or two in Parkhurst forest, and, certainly,
the first ship they build of it ought to be christened in
honour of " My krds."