It will readily be seen that I refer to the new Poor Law and to the Corn Laws; the former of which throws the poor man almost exclusively on his own resources. To provide him therefore with _healthful employment_, at such a time, and under such circumstances, will tend more than any thing else can do, to lessen the difficulty and danger of the transition from the old to the new law, and to mitigate the perhaps necessary severity of the provisions of the latter. Before I proceed any further I would state, that I shall not attempt any thing like a systematic course, nor shall I confine myself to a scientific arrangement of my subjects: nor again, shall I trouble myself about the _technical_ names of the several Trees which I may have to mention: nor, lastly, is it my intention to aim at elegance of composition. I do not write to establish a literary reputation, well knowing that to such an object I am unequal, and that if it were otherwise, there is a _want of adaptation_ in my subject; but I wish to be understood as addressing myself to those who, not being themselves _practically_ acquainted with the subjects here treated of, are not unwilling to listen to the opinions which I have formed, and profit by the experience which I have derived from close and extensive observation, while myself actually employed in the details of management, connected alike with the Timber and Coppice of ancient Woods, with the planting and subsequent treatment of Plantations and with Hedge-Row Timber. Of course I am aware that much has been said, and much has been written, by others who have preceded me, on these subjects, but notwithstanding that this be true, I am not at all of opinion that this branch of rural economy has received its fair share of attention, or that the subject has been viewed in that particular aspect in which it is here presented, highly important and interesting as that view must be acknowledged to be, when considered as it affects the growers of Timber, the labouring poor, and the community at large. There will be many, doubtless, who will dissent from some of my opinions. They will have a good and sufficient cause to do so, if they adjudge them to be erroneous: they have just as much right to hold their opinions as I have to hold mine, but I wish it to be always remembered by those who may read the following pages, that every conclusion to which I have been brought, and every inference that I have drawn, _has had its origin in actual experience_.