WOODCRAFT IN THE WEALD.
THE Weald—that is to say, the range of forest-country lying between the South Downs and the North Downs, and reaching from Tunbridge Wells on the east to Hasle- mere on the west—is often spoken of as the Kingdom of the Oak. And the name is much more than a literary phrase, The more one enters into the life and history of the district, the more one realises that its oak-trees are not only—though• that is much—an invaluable factor in the beauty of its wood- land scenery, but also the royal protectors of the rights of that beauty to endure. The oak-crop of the Weald continues to be a source of wealth to the district in these days of agricultural depression, and though the timber-trade has not escaped the "ups and downs," with a preponderance of "downs," which have been felt by all trades during the last, thirty years, there is little fear of the "Sussex weed" not holding its own in the market against the cheaper and more- rapidly grown article imported from abroad ; for the Sussex oak, as the world is beginning to find out, makes up for its. slower growth by having more heart, and consequently more lasting power. It is good to know this, because it is, of course, a point in the economical prospects of the country. But in this beautiful Spring weather, the wanderer in the• Weald must be forgiven if he is tempted chiefly to give thanks for the persistence of the oak-crop and the profitableness of the timber trade and the minor woodland industries that develop round it, because they are in a manner guarantees for the preservation of one of the most picturesque tracts of English scenery within easy access of the Londoner. Not only do the old Tudor houses of this country owe much of their beauty and all their durability to the toughness of the beams of native oak embedded in their structure ; not only is the actual work of felling and flawing the timber exceedingly' picturesque; but the clearing of the woods acts as a recurring stimulus to the growth of the wild-flowers. As the natives know well, the coppice where the oaks were felled last May is the place where we may confidently count this spring on finding the finest primroses and dog-violets and the richest crop of "lady's smock," as they call the lilac cuckoo-flower in these parts—where it flourishes with extraordinary vigour and in such quantities that it colours whole acres with its bright and delicate mauve. The recently cleared coppice is a gay flower-garden for a year or two; but by degrees, and not slow degrees, the waderwood springs up, and, instead of an easy
gathering-ground, we have a thicket of blackthorn, hazel, ash, hornbeam, and spindle-wood, among which the oak seedlings shoot up, safe from the axe till another century shall have passed over their heads. But the coloured scene will only have shifted, and other coppices will be bright with lady's smock and primroses, while this one grows thicker and taller, till, in a dozen years or so, it is worth cutting for the profit of its nnderwood. Timber-felling hardly ever begins in the 'Weald till the latter end of April; but " copsing," or the entting of the underwood, goes on from November to mid. April, and copsing is a delightfully picturesque occupation as well as a craft requiring not a little skill and experience. Some knowledge of trees is required in order to know and €pare the oak seedlings in the covert. Moreover, there goes method to the actual cutting. Where the wood is severed with a clean sharp stroke it shoots again quickly and strongly ; -but where a workman has hacked the stems and left them ragged, the wet gets into the wood and rots the stool.
Different branches of woodcraft are practised in different Tarts of the district. On the Kent side the ash and hazel saplings are cut into hop-poles. Towards Haslemere they make mop handles, broomsticks, and hurdles ; and, pretty nearly all over the district, the tramp cuts skewers from the spindle- wood to sell to the London butchers. But here, in the heart of the Weald, the most characteristic minor branch of wood- -craft is that known as "hoop-shaving." And a group of workmen engaged in this industry, seen as we saw them on an early day in April, when the thickets were all in ,flower, and the slopes of the gylls enamelled (as the French word-painters say) with primroses and dog-violets and blue and white periwinkles, made a scene of human labour so entirely in harmony with its natural setting, that one gave involuntary thanks for the providential dispensation which makes it improbable that our civilisation will ever be quite independent of the woodman's craft. Flashing white in the sunshine, were the long bundles of shaved pales, propped against the surrounding trees. All about upon the ground lay the rough faggots of newly cut wood. And in the middle of the clearing were set up the " breaks" upon which the hoop-shaver works. The " break " itself is a picturesque object, which may be roughly described as a wooden vice very simply constructed, and propped slantwise with stakes stuck into the ground so as to stand about 6 ft. high. A hinge worked by a noose and pulley of flexible hazel-twigs allows a -certain amount of play to one end of the narrow board upon which the split poles are laid to be shaved, and the other end of this board is left free to be propped against the chest of the woodman, who generally protects himself and his garments from injury by wearing a leather belt broad enough to serve as a waistcoat. He cannot hold the board with his hands, because both hands are required to wield the two-handled " hoop-shave" with which he strips the bark from the wood. He selects a pole from the faggots lying about, splits it with an axe, then lays it on the board and passes the shave rapidly along it, throws it away and takes another, carrying on his work with great rapidity, and also with a stolidity which is as much a local characteristic as the sturdiness of the native oak.
Hoops are wanted in many trades and for a great variety of purposes—by wine-growers and tea-growers, by butter and oyster merchants, in cement and lime factories — and 'they have to be cut and packed according to a graduated scale of exactly calculated lengths, ranging from 2i ft. to 14 ft. Of the shortest, a great number are sent to India to bind tea-casks; and of the longest, many were, once upon -a, time, used as trellis to train vines on in the vineyards of France. But wire is rapidly taking the place of wood for this purpose ; moreover, during the last six years the French wood- landers and their wives and children have taken to cutting and shaving their own hoops, with the result not only of a lessened demand for Sussex hoops among the French vine-growers, but of an invasion of the English markets by French hoops. The underwoods grow more rapidly in France than in England, and this natural cir- cumstance, working with others, makes it possible for the French hoop-shaver to turn out his work at a less -coat than the English Woodman can—and so, for a time at any rate, the English trade is suffering by foreign competition. The cheaper French hoops serve as well as the English ones for many purposes; but the English underwood, like the English oak, makes up for its slower growth by tougher quality, and there remain certain uses for which it is pre. ferred. So we may hope that the hoop-shaver of the Weald is not doomed to disappear in the course of progress.
" Copsing " begins in November and goes on till the middle of April. It is now drawing to an end and the timber-felling is about to begin. Those who like to keep count of the occupations of the countryman, side by side with a ohronicle of opening leaves and flowers, may remember that the under- wood is cut in November, when the woods are bare and the sap is not flowing ; that hoop-shaving goes on through all the winter months, and finishes when the blackthorn, the primrose, the dog-violet, and the lady's smock are in flower ; that the timber begins to fall as the cowslip and the blue- bell are coming into bloom; and, inasmuch as it is necessary to flaw the wood before the flow of the sap has been arrested, the whole work of felling and flawing has to be got through in a very few weeks, and is generally over by the middle of May, when the standing oaks are in leaf, and the hawthorn, the lilac, and the laburnum are in blossom.
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