New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-04-15
preserving timber which begins @The King, our

sovereipn percei wing and right well knowing the
great decay OF timber and wood universally within
the realm OF England and that unless speedy rem
edy in that behalf bs provided there Is great and
manifest likelihood OF scarcity as well Tor building
houses and ships for firewood," and the act goes
on TO limit the size of timber cut TO prescribe the
number of standrells or store oaks" to be lett
standing on each feled, and to provide for IN
closing young wood against browsing animals.
Many acts OF like import and for the establishment
of nurseries for timber" were passed in tho reigns
of Elizabeth, James l.. Charles II. and William III.
Chapter II OF the 9th OF Ann is to preserve the
white and other pine growing in Her Maiesty's col
Onies OF New Hampshire. Massachusetts, Bay and
Province of Maine Rhode Island, Providence Plan
tations, the New Narragansett Country Connecticut
in New-England New-York and New-Jersey." This
act however, was repealed in the Ieign of tho first
George, five years after it was made felony to set
fire TO woods maliclously.
These laws could check, Int they did not az all to
prevent sic but steady encroachment up0n tho Old
forest woodlands as population increased. Never
theless MANY noble trees remain to day as lannon's
as the Shire Oak in Sherwood Forest. under whose
branches according to Evelyn, Il squadron of go
horse could stand.
From the time of Henry VIII. many perambula-
tons" of forest woodland included II careful CEN
sus of the timber, giving the number OF sound aud
decaycd trees and an estimate of the timber In
terestnc accounts OF the amount of timber and fuel
gathered are rendered. and it often appears that THO
legal protectors OF the woods wise alter their
generation and enjoyed rich perqusites. The Rang
ers often claimed as their own the lOp and TOP
after the timber had been feled for the Royal
Navies-and not rarely the Weld of lop and top"
was uncommony liberal when compared with the
amount Of ship timber. Whenever the Ranger
CHANGED 10 he lady as Was often the case, this
thrifty MANAGEMENT appeared to be the rule. Mrs.
Ruperta Home and Lady IIillsborough, who at
different periods enjoyed the Rangership OF tho
Forest of Woolmer displayed such enterprise as
timber merchants that the Royal Commission felt
called upon to investigate the matter. As late as
III the Duchess of Marlborough was Hanger oil
Windsor Forest, and il is not supposed that she SUI
fered in purse. although complaining that All She
cot was a few welsh knuts aud the grazing OF some
cows What with the greed OF keepers, the gen
uine needs Of a thickering population. and many
other causes, these old-tme woodlands have sadly
dwindled in area. Of the forests named In Sir
Henry Spclnans list many are totally extermnated
and of others but meagre remnants survive.
Doomsday Book makes note of 1888 woods and
forests IN five counties alone, and in the greater
part of them not a tree is standing and in many not
n shrub Great stretches OF woodland in Lanca-
shire where az the phrase went, " a squirrel could
run for miles without touching the ground are
now completely swept away before tbs steam en-
zine and power. loom The monuments OF these ex-
tInct woodlands are scattered all over England IN
the names Of places which prove by thell ctymoogy
that the woods about them were once OF sufficient
importance to give them designation. such are
all places ending in dean, den, don. ham, bot
hurst -horst. shaw, shot, -wald, -~old wood
besides hundreds of others re atng 10 particular
trees ike Bucklands j. E., BcechIahds, Cressagc,
which isa corruption of Chrst's Oak, Lindhurst
Lime OF Linden Wood.
DR.. Browns book contains in small compass
much information rc.atrng to these old forests.
and it is valuable for It's references to sources from
which much more can lie CLEANED. There ia a sum
mary of medieval forest leg Station. as well OF the
legislation subsequent to the Chvta Forcs'a down
through the times when forests camo to DO cunsld-
cred more important for their timber yield than ~
game covets The sketch is only brought down TO
tho end OF the last century and n promised work
which is 10 treat of the condition of English forests
during the present century and the systematic
efforts TO conserve rcpenish aud extend them will
be looked for with interest. OF forestry, an
derstaud the term the present volume contains ltlo
although a chapter on the methods of sylvculture |
employed in the eighteenth century and earlier |
would have adder to the value of the book. The |
descriptions of of the principal forests. chases'
pafks and woodlands have been compiled with some |
care but the centuries are oddly jumbled together
in the fragments quoted, and the lack Of historical
perspective makes these pictures OF tie past some
" hat confused and ill-proportioned Nevertheless
the reader will be entertained he casually comes
npon auacn, to placesrich IN le onlTy and hlHor
cal associations az when for example, he reads in
tIat IN a
survey Of 1861 the King enjoyed ght to twelve
oads of hay to he taken yearly from the meadow
He'd Eunnymede " for the feeding of the deer.
II is matter of regret that Dir. Brown has not
,een tit to discuss even casually the influence exerted
Dy these old forests upon In dish taste for land
,capc aud LANDSCAPE art The simple elements OF
yoods pastures and moorlands naturally and yet
70 grandly disposed over rolling and well watercd
country worked together to produce a kind Of
Try which under the mellpwtd light Of tire island is
for dignity and rep0sc. The constant
presence of these restfnl prospects has been an
,ducation for centuries II the contemplation OF
INV class of natural objects has effect upon
,hatacter these forest scenes have helped 10 make
lnccre and manly They certainly have
Helped 10 develop the manly taste which has ever
,een the charm OF English poetry. That work
ike Gilpin's "Forest Scenery " should have been
Produced hundred years ago ~ a significant fact
L could then have been written nowhere in the
world outsd OF England. Nowhere else w0ud
here hayo been a body of readers 70 whom the
Iuthor OF this delightful ueatise could have APP
,ealcd with the assurance of sympathetic apprcca-
ion Such work is only produced as thu out
rowth of taste Inherited through generations until
N intelligent love OF nature had become estab-
ished national trait.
NOTES on BOOKS.