OFFOREST-TREES. ij-i

9. Then, to prevent the destructive razing and converting of TV00ds Chap. VI.to Pasture : No Wood of two Acres , and above two Furlongs, from '■VW/'Xjthe Manjion-honse, should be indulged : And the ‘Prohibitions are

good against Assarts made in Forests, &c. without License : The■Penalties are indeed great ; but how seldom inflicted ? And what isnow more easy, than compounding for such a License ?

In some Parts of Germany, where a single Tree is observed to beextraordinary fertile, a constant and plentiful Mas-bearer ,. there areLaws to prohibit their felling without special Leave : And it was wellenabled amongst us, that even the Owners of Woods within Chafes,should not cut down the Timber without View of Officers ; this Aftbeing in Affirmance of the Common-law, and not to be violated withoutPrescription : See the Cafe cited by my Lord Coke in his Commenton Littleton. Tenure Burgage, Lib. ii. Sect. 170. Or if not withinChases , yet where a common Person had Liberty of Chase, &c. andthis would be of much Benefit, had theRegarders performed their Du-ty, as ’tis at large described in the Writ of the iz Articles ; and thatthe Surcharge of the Forests had been honestly inspected with the duePerambulations , and antient Metes . Thus should the Justices ofLyre dispose of no Woods without express Commission , and in conve-nient Places : Minuti blaterones quercuum, culi, V curbi , as ourLaw terms Wind-salls, Dotterels , Scrags, &c. and no others.

10. Care is likewise, by our Laws, to be taken that no unnecessary Im-bezilment be made by Pretences of Repair of Paling, Lodges , Browsefor Deer , &tc. Wind-salls, Root-fa Us, dead and Sear-lrees , allwhich is subject to the Inspection of the Warders, Justices, Itinerants,

&s- and even Tress asses done de Firidi on Boughs of Trees, Thickets ,and the like • which (as has been shewed) are very great Impedimentsto their Growth and Prosperity, and should be duly looked after, andpunished ; and the great Neglect of Swainmote-Conrts reformed, Vc.

See Confuet. Affis Fores Pannagium, or Pajtura pecontm V deGlandibus, Fleta, &cc. Manwood's Foreft-laws : Coke pla. sol. 366.

Lib. viii. sol. 138.

11. Finally, that the Exorbitance and Increase of devouring Iron-mills were looked into, as to their Distance and Plumber near the Seas,or navigable Rivers ; and what if some of them were even removedinto another World ? the Holy-land of New-England (there to buildShips, erect Saw-Mills, near their noble Rivers ) for they will else ruinOld-England. ’Twere better to purchase all our Iron out of America,than thus to exhaust our Woods at Home, although (I doubt not) theymight be so ordered, as to be rather a Means of conserving them.

There was a Statute made by Queen Eliz. to prohibit the convertingof Timber-trees to Coal , or other Fuel, for the Use of Iron-mills, itthe Tree were of one Foot square, and growing within fourteen Milesof the Sea, or the greater Rivers, &c. ’Tis pity some of those Placesin Kent, Sustex and Surrey were excepted in the ‘Proviso, for theReason expressed in a Statute made 13 Eliz. by which even the em-ploying of any Duder-wood as well as great Trees, was prohibitedwithin twenty-two Miles of London, and many other navigable Rivers,

Creeks, and other lesser Distances from some Parts of Sujsex-Downs ,Cinque-Ports, Havens,

One Simon Sturtivant had a Patent from K. James I. i6tz. pre-tending to lave 300000 I. a Year, by melting Iron Oar and other

S s s Metals ,