The Natural History of Selborne, Vol. 1 | Page 8

burn on any waste,
between Candlemas and Midsummer, any grig, ling, heath and furze,
goss or fern, is punishable with whipping and confinement in the house
of correction;" yet, in this forest, about March or April, according to the
dryness of the season, such vast heath-fires are lighted up, that they
often get to a masterless head, and, catching the hedges, have
sometimes been communicated to the underwoods, woods, and
coppices, where great damage has ensued. The plea for these burnings
is that, when the old coat of heath, etc., is consumed, young will sprout
up, and afford much tender browze for cattle; but, where there is large
old furze, the fire, following the roots, consumes the very ground; so
that for hundreds of acres nothing is to be seen but smother and
desolation, the whole circuit round looking like the cinders of a volcano;
and, the soil being quite exhausted, no traces of vegetation are to be
found for years. These conflagrations, as they take place usually with a
north-east or east wind, much annoy this village with their smoke, and
often alarm the country; and, once in particular, I remember that a

gentleman, who lives beyond Andover, coming to my house, when he
got on the downs between that town and Winchester, at twenty-five
miles' distance, was surprised much with smoke and a hot smell of fire,
and concluded that Alresford was in flames; but, when he came to that
town, he then had apprehensions for the next village, and so on to the
end of his journey.
On two of the most conspicuous eminences of this forest stand two
arbours or bowers, made of the boughs of oak; the one called Waldon
Lodge, the other Brimstone Lodge: these the keepers renew annually on
the feast of St. Barnabas, taking the old materials for a perquisite. The
farm called Blackmoor, in this parish, is obliged to find the posts and
brush-wood for the former; while the farms at Greatham, in rotation,
furnish for the latter, and are all enjoined to cut and deliver the
materials at the spot. This custom I mention, because I look upon it to
be of very remote antiquity.

LETTER VIII.
On the verge of the forest, as it is now circumscribed, are three
considerable lakes, two in Oakhanger, of which I have nothing
particular to say; and one called Bin's, or Bean's Pond, which is worthy
the attention of a naturalist or a sportsman. For, being crowded at the
upper end with willows, and with the carex cespitosa, it affords such a
safe and pleasing shelter to wild ducks, teals, snipes, etc., that they
breed there. In the winter this covert is also frequented by foxes, and
sometimes by pheasants; and the bogs produce many curious plants.
(For which consult Letter XLI. to Mr. Barrington.)
By a perambulation of Wolmer Forest and the Holt, made in 1635, and
the eleventh year of Charles I. (which now lies before me), it appears
that the limits of the former are much circumscribed. For, to say
nothing of the farther side, with which I am not so well acquainted, the
bounds on this side, in old times, came into Binswood, and extended to
the ditch of Ward le Ham Park, in which stands the curious mount
called King John's Hill, and Lodge Hill; and to the verge of Hartley

Mauduit, called Mauduit Hatch; comprehending also Short Heath,
Oakhanger, and Oakwoods--a large district, now private property,
though once belonging to the royal domain.
It is remarkable that the term purlieu is never once mentioned in this
long roll of parchment. It contains, besides the perambulation, a rough
estimate of the value of the timbers, which were considerable, growing
at that time in the district of the Holt, and enumerates the officers,
superior and inferior, of those joint forests, for the time being, and their
ostensible fees and perquisites. In those days, as at present, there were
hardly any trees in Wolmer Forest.
Within the present limits of the forest are three considerable lakes,
Hogmer, Cranmer, and Wolmer, all of which are stocked with carp,
tench, eels, and perch: but the fish do not thrive well, because the water
is hungry, and the bottoms are a naked sand.
A circumstance respecting these ponds, though by no means peculiar to
them, I cannot pass over in silence; and that is, that instinct by which in
summer all the kine, whether oxen, cows, calves, or heifers, retire
constantly to the water during the hotter hours; where, being more
exempt from flies, and inhaling the coolness of that element, some
belly deep, and some only to mid-leg, they ruminate and solace
themselves from about ten in the morning till four in the afternoon, and
then return to their feeding. During this great