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country, where the climate is temperate, rain-fall plentiful, and iron and coal take the place of wood for many purposes to which the latter is adapted, and for which, in fact, it forms the sole resource in India. I beg here to express my thanks to tho deputy surveyors of the several forests, their assistants, and all with whom I have had the honor of being officially brought into contact during my visits to the forests, for their kindness and civility, and the* anxiety which they have uniformly evinced to afford me every information and assistance in their power, even, I fear, in some cases, to their own inconvenience and discomfort. I cannot too strongly express my appreciation of the kind manner in which I was received as a brother forester. "Windsor Great Park and Sandhurst "Woods. I went round these woods with Mr. Menzies, the deputy surveyor, but as they are avowedly more ornamental than profitable, I do not purpose submitting any detailed report on them. Oak Woods. —The plantations in the park are mainly oak, which attains a great size. Of late years there has been considerable planting of comferw in clumps for ornamental purposes. The plantations known as the Swinley Woods are the finest and most extensive, and present a uniformity and evenness of growth which can only result from the most careful training from the day they were planted out. " Stag-headed " trees are very rare, the greatest care being taken, and certainly with marked success, to encourage and help the tree to preserve one leading shoot. Tho manner in which this is effected is the more remarkable, as Mr. Menzies disapproves of pruning as practised in the Scotch forests, and relies mainly, I might almost say entirely, on careful training, by judicious thinning, and allowing each tree to stand on its own ground and then make its own way. Scotch Fir Woods. —The Scotch fir woods, which are chiefly self-sown, are extensive, and contain a very fine supply of timber. They are situated for the most part in the vicinity of Sandhurst, and interspersed here and there with patches of beech. Mr. Menzies finds it best, in felling the fir, to clear out patches only, leaving belts of mature trees standing. This facilitates, and in fact provides for, natural reproduction, and affords shelter to the young trees as they grow up. Workshops. —The workshops, containing saw machinery of every description, are particularly deserving of note, although constructed on too expensive and extensive a scale for practical adaptation for our purposes. The late Prince Consort took a special interest in them, and personally superintended much of the work, and the workshops now bear his name. The general management and growth of the timber trees are such as will repay a visit, although this Crown forest must not be considered from an economic point of view, and there is now no planting carried on s*ave for ornamental purposes. The extent under crop is difficult to ascertain, owing to the scattered nature of the plantations and woods, and it is not stated in the Return of Royal Forests and Woodlands made by order of the House of Commons in 1863, which contains the acreage, &c, of all the other Crown forests. In fact, the circumstances of these woods are quite exceptional, as appertaining to the Royal residence at Windsor, and constituting the recreation ground of the Sovereign and public. The total receipts for 1870-71 were £7,484, while the expenditure amounted to £20,613. The New Forest. Extent and Bivisions. —The New Forest in Hampshire now contains about 91,000 acres, and is divided into three districts, each under the immediate charge of an assistant to the deputy surveyor, who, acting under the orders of the Commissioner of Woods, supervises and manages the whole. The forest is situated to the south and south-west of Lyndhurst (about three miles from Lyndhurst Road railway station), where Mr. Cumberbatch, the deputy surveyor, resides. Of the total extent of 91,000 acres, only some 2,000 is the absolute property of the Crown. As regards about 26,000 acres, the soil is the property of private landowners, whilst with regard to the remaining quantity of about 03,000 acres, the soil and freehold is the property of the Crown, which has also certain forestal rights and rights of enclosure and planting, subject to which numerous persons are entitled to and exercise certain rights which I propose to detail more fully in a special section devoted to their definition, and the steps which have been taken from time to time for their settlement or commutation. Nurseries. —l visited an extensive nursery well stocked with young trees of all descriptions at Rinefield ; it extends over forty to fifty acres. There is another of smaller extent at Perry Hill, which I did not see, and there are several small ones in various parts of the forest, adjoining the places where planting is being, or about to be, carried on. Mr. Cumberbatch is in favour of transplanting for the last time into a nursery near the ground to be planted, and this would appear an excellent idea. In India, indeed, it is almost a necessity, as our young trees will not bear being carried any distance, in the plains at least. Hitherto our planting in Madras, with the exception of the Nellambur teak planting, has been comparatively of small extent, but as the area of the plantations increases it will, I think, be found necessary to have similar subordinate nurseries, so that the trees to be put out may be ready at hand. The management of the nurseries differs in no way from that described in my Report on the Scotch Forests, and the varieties reared are identical. Plantations. —I visited eight plantations of dates subsequent to 1835, viz., Lady Cross, Whitley Ridge, Hawkshill Enclosure (where they were planting with the planting spade), Rinefield Walks, Islands Thorns, Highland Water, Slufter, and King's Garn Gutter. The plantation known as Islands Thorns extends over nearly 500 acres, and was planted with Scotch fir and larch as nurses in 1853, and with oak in 1857. Mr. Cumberbatch finds it an improvement to plant out the nurses a few years before the hard-wood trees, in order that they may be established, and find the necessary shelter from the winds, which are often very high and cutting.
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