Pruning is also a very necessary operation in Ancient Woods, both of the oak and of the underwood. I shall not here enter upon an inquiry into the general question of pruning, but, continuing to treat my subject practically, venture to remark, that, as our woods are now circumstanced, pruning, of some kind or other, is, as far as the oak is concerned, quite indispensable. Whether it should be by fore-shortening, close pruning, or some other method, must be determined upon an examination taken, but I do not hesitate to express my belief, that the pruning of oak trees in woods, may be almost wholly dispensed with, after the few first years, if they are well trained from the beginning; but that being the case with very few, pruning must be resorted to. And as to the underwood, the question has still less difficulty in it. When a wood is well stocked with underwood of the right sort, the object to be aimed at by the woodman is to bring it to maturity as soon as possible, and one means which he possesses, if he will make use of it, is pruning; which he should commence, after one year’s growth, and occasionally repeat—say on the fourth and sixth years, allowing the intervals to pass without interfering with it. If this operation be performed as it ought to be, the stools will have a number of poles proportioned to their size and capacity of supporting them, and the poles themselves will not only be more of an uniform size, but they will be much straighter, and on every account better adapted to the use for which they may be intended. But if a wood be stocked with nothing but rubbish, such as hazel, birch, alder, &c. it will not be worth pruning, and the best course to take with it, would be to stub it up, and get rid of it altogether.
Finally, on this point, and more particularly with reference to timber, if the pruning be judiciously done, it will tend greatly to improve the health of the wood, but the indiscriminate use of the pruning knife might do much harm, it should, therefore, only be done under the most careful direction.
Stubbing up rubbish, such as thorns, briers, birch, and, in many places, hazel, is much to be recommended, as by this means, light and air will be admitted more freely, and the health of the wood promoted, and, of course, its growth facilitated. It is perhaps just possible, that there may be a few cases where the demand may be such for birch, hazel, or alder, as to warrant a woodman in keeping them as a part of his stock; but I have generally found, upon inquiry, that they have fetched such a miserable price, as to yield very little more than would pay expences.
The absolute necessity of filling up with young plants must be universally admitted, although in practice, it is very rarely done, or, if done at all, it is very generally so ill done, as to produce no perceptible improvement in the stock.
It too often happens that sufficient care is not bestowed in selecting the plants. They are frequently put in too small, and when they are long enough, they are often deficient in thickness. All plants put into old woods, should be of good size, stiff, and well rooted. Again: it will be admitted, that they are often planted in a most slovenly and careless manner.—The following is a specimen of what I have seen. The workman takes his spade, and inserts it in the ground as far as it will go, in a sloping direction; he then raises it to a perpendicular position, which, of course, produces a “nick,” into which he thrusts the plant, and having put his heavy foot upon it, there and thus, he leaves it to its fate, and pursues his ill-directed labour, without a gleam of light breaking in upon him, as to the possibility of his being more usefully employed, or doing his work in a more effective manner! In this way, or in some such way as this, thousands of acres of Ancient Woods are treated every year; but it must be clear to every one, that such a practice is a disgrace to those who pursue it. If the workmen are asked their opinion of it, they will, in most cases, assure you, that the plants will “all grow,” but the misfortune is, that experience is against them. Both theory and practice are directly opposed to their view. But independently of facts, which every where condemn such methods, no one acquainted with the rudiments of the subject, needs to be told, that it is utterly unlikely that either an oak or an ash plant should grow, under the manifest disadvantages in which it is placed, when its roots are thus jumbled together, and forced into a “nick” fit only for a willow set; and when, moreover, it has to commence its course in competition with other underwood, which has already possession of the ground. It is absurd to suppose that it should succeed.
I do not presume to say that some woods do not receive different treatment, in all respects, to that which I have denounced: that would not be true; but these are the exceptions, and even where the management is best, there is much to complain of.
In commencing the subject of Planting, I am impressed with a sense of the importance which should be attached to it in such a work as this. I mean planting by way of filling up, in Ancient Woods. I am quite aware that it demands such a largeness and comprehension of view, that it might well be supposed likely to discourage one of stouter nerves than mine. It is important because, first, every wood in the kingdom ought to be well planted, whether it is or not: It is so, secondly, because there are very few that are properly planted.
As I have stated before, the infancy of a wood, or plantation, is the only time when it cannot be expected to pay. After it has arrived at a certain age, say from fifteen to twenty years, it ought to begin to make some return. In woods, if they are properly planted, it will necessarily be small during the first two cycles of twenty years each. It must be observed, that I am here speaking of the first forty years of an Ancient Wood, supposing it to have been thoroughly purged of its rubbish, retaining all the valuable stock, and to have been re-planted. The return must be small, because the oaks will have been planted thickly, in order that they may acquire great length of bole: and this being the case, whatever underwood may have been put in, it will be treated with direct reference to the health and prosperity of the entire class of timber trees. After the expiration of the first cycle, that portion of the stuff put in for underwood will be cut over, and such pruning of the oak as may be required (which will be very slight) will be done, care being taken never to lose sight of the principle of classification of the oaks, into certain families of larger or smaller size, according to the term which a skilful woodman will allot for their entire existence. This is of immense consequence, and will embrace calculations, and a knowledge of the habits of trees, which can only be acquired by “close observation and long experience.” Where a sufficient number of oaks have been introduced, the underwood will yield very little return per acre, even at the end of the second cycle; but if the wood has been well managed, it will have been kept alive and tolerably healthy; and when it is cut, at the end of forty years, a considerable number of oaks of a useful size for farmers, wheelwrights, &c. will be taken down: this will admit light and air, and in a slight degree, perhaps, improve the position of the underwood during the course of the third cycle.
I need not pursue the subject farther here, having, I trust, succeeded in opening to the reader a general view of the plan which should be pursued. But there are other woods where a larger portion, both of oak and of underwood, will be found, and where, consequently, it will be more the object of the woodman to improve by less extensive measures than would be adopted in such a case as the one just referred to. It will mostly be best to do this by pruning, stubbing, and planting—always supposing that an effectual drainage has been secured—and here I would remark, that whenever planting is done in a wood, it should be as well done as circumstances will possibly allow. Instead of the “nick” system, or any similar plan, the woodman should dig holes for the underwood in the Autumn, and plant in February, or early in March. For oak, he should dig a larger hole, in the Autumn, give it a Summer fallow, and put in a vigorous, stiff plant, the Autumn following, or in the February next but one. If some such plan as this were pursued, there is not much fear but the plants would grow, and in this way woods may be gradually brought into a prosperous state, instead of their being, as they now are, in the aggregate, a comparatively valueless property to their owners.
I may here illustrate my view by a reference to a particular case, which came under my professional notice. It was a wood held on lease by a gentleman, under an ecclesiastical body, the lease being for a certain number of years, renewable upon the payment of a fine every seven years. Some dissatisfaction was felt by the lessee at the amount of the fines demanded, and the lease was permitted to lapse, at which time the intrinsic value of the stock, whether of timber or underwood, was literally nothing. The oak was all gone, as it was quite natural that, with a lease so framed, it should be, and the underwood, instead of being usefully and beneficially occupying the ground, of which it then had entire possession, was not worth the trouble of cutting! How different would have been the position of the lessors in this instance, I need not say, if, during the two last cycles, when the oaks were becoming very thinly scattered, the underwood had been cherished, as it most undoubtedly ought to have been. The neighbourhood was one where there was plenty of demand for the produce of woods; the particular wood referred to, would have been, on every account, as good a cover, and all parties would have been alike interested in the continuance of the lease.