IN enumerating the agricultural products of England, the timber must not be forgotten. This grows either in the hedge rows, in the woods and plantations of private proprietors, or in the royal forests. In the southern, and particularly in most of the south-western and west ern counties, the quantity of timber which grows in the hedge rows, or in the pasture fields, is very great. In some parts of England, also, much timber grows in woods and plantations; so that, taking the whole of England, it is calculated, that on each estate, the value of the growing timber is equal to two years rent. The principal woodland counties are Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, and pat ts of Ox fordshire, Northamptonshire, Berkshire, Leicestershire, Etc. It may in general be remarked, that the western counties are better wooded than the eastern; and the southern than the northern. It is calculated, that in the county of Worcester alone, there are in the inclosures, between 800,000 and 400,000 trees, principally oak, ash, elm, and willow, which might be removed, with out any sensible injury either to the proprietor or the occupier of the soil.
Oak is by far the most important, though not the most abundant of English trees. It flourishes in great perfection on the Wealds of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex ; in the hedge row of Cheshire, in Monmouthshire, Flintshire, and several other parts of England and Wales; but there are some counties that produce very few oaks indeed, considering their size, perhaps not more than may be sufficient for their own consumption, such as Middlesex, the greater part of Hertfordshire, Oxfordshire, Wiltshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, So mersetshire, Gloucestershire, (with the exception of the forest of Dean,) Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and several others.
But the principal supply of oak is derived from the Royal Forests, of which the following statement will show the extent of the land, in which the timber be longs to the crown : Besides the timber in these forests, the crown pos sesses much of it in Windsor Forest, and in the lands belonging to it, in the Duchies of Cornwall and Lan caster.
It is a generally received opinion, that the growth of oak timber is on the decline in this kingdom; and this opinion is confirmed by the result of two investiga tions, which were made at different and very distant periods, into the state of the oak timber in several of the Royal Forests. In the year 1608, a survey was made of all the timber that was fit for felling in the Royal Forest, and other estates of the crown. The
whole, however, was not completed, neither the Fo rest of Dean, nor that of Whichwood, being comprised in the surveys; but the result appears to have been, that on the part of the Crown's estate that was survey ed, there must have been then growing about 649,880 loads of timber fit for the navy, and 1,148,660 loads of what was Boated and decayed. In 1783, another sur vey was taken, by order of the House of Commons, from which it appeared, that in New Forest, Alieeholt and Woolmer, Bere, Whittlewood, Saleey, and Sher wood, there were only 50.445 loads of timber fit for the navy ; whereas, in 1608, in these forests, there were 234,229 ; and that, in 1783, there were in these forests only 35,554 loads of decayed trees; whereas, in 1608, there were 265,145 ; so that the quantity of timber in 1783, in those forests, was little more than the sixth part of what it was at the former period. The general fact of the decrease of oak timber in nearly all the counties of England was further confirmed in 1791, by the answers which were returned by some of the prin cipal timber merchants and land-surveyors, as well as by the chairman of the Quarter Sessions of the several counties in England and Wales, to questions sent to them by the commissioners of the land revenue.
Besides oak, elm, ash, beech, alder and willow arc common in the hedge rows, Etc, of several of the coun ties. It is impossible to form an estimate of all these kinds of trees. Mr Malcolm, in his survey of Surrey, supposes, that of oak there may be five trees in every 20 acres; but this is evidently a random conjecture An attempt was made some years ago, to have a sur vey taken of all the tinnier growing on private estates in England; but the surveyors were interrupted by the proprietors before they got through the second county.
WE now come to the statistical branch of our present subject, which includes many curious, important, and highly interesting particulars; but, like all statistical enquiries, our investigations on this subject cannot he expected to proceed on data absolutely certain, or to give results quite conformable to the truth. The prin cipal points to be ascertained, are the number of culti vated acres in England and Wales ; the distribution and application of these acres; the value of their several kinds of produce ; the rental of the land ; the capital employed in agriculture ; the profits arising from his labours and capital to the farmer ; the number of peo ple employed in agricultural pursuits, &c.