Woods and Plantations.
Woodlands cover a large part of the surface of this county. The quantity and quality of timber varies considerably in different districts. In the north-western portion, where the chalk is near the surface, beech woods prevail. To the south of this, on a zone running from the south-west to north-east, oak and ash are more abundant, both in the woods and on hedge rows, the oak having generally a stunted appearance; the ash is also of slow growth, but bears a good character for wheeler’s stuff. Still further south the elm may be said to be the weed of the country. In the most southern portion, where the chalk is covered by the London and Plastic clays, the elm and oak attain a much larger growth, unless the upper drift gravel intervene, which is only suited to larch or fir. The beech woods, in which underwood refuses to grow, are periodically thinned, and the fall used by wheelers, and, in some cases, by chair-makers, though this trade is almost entirely confined to Buckinghamshire. The ordinary coppice is commonly cut every twelve years and sold by auction. As a general rule, the growth is not sufficiently straight and free to serve a better purpose than making rods or headers for fencing, pea-sticks, faggots, or at best, turner’s stuff, or sparred hurdles and wattled hurdles for sheep.
The woodlands are too often objects of little care, and are scarcely ever renewed or replanted as the old stools die or fail. Those which belonged to the late Sir John Sebright, of Beechwood, are, however, an exception to this rule, and bear the traces of careful replenishing to this day; his son and successor follows his example.
In many places woods have of late been grubbed, when, from their frequent interlacing with the arable land, they were incompatible with improved cultivation; but in a county where there are so many resident proprietors, coverts for game will not readily give place to the steam plough.
Straw-Plait.
The manufacture of straw-plait not only furnishes employment for the females of the labouring classes, but bears on the agricultural interests of part of the county, by creating a market for some of the wheat-straw grown within its limits. This trade, from its nature, varies with and is ruled by the fashions in dress. Luton and Dunstable, in Bedfordshire, are its headquarters, though it extends to the centre of the county of Hertford, where much plait is made to supply the dealers, whose attendance at Hitchin and elsewhere creates a considerable market. The
