{"id":12348,"date":"2019-08-04T15:12:10","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T15:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?post_type=kbe_knowledgebase&p=12348"},"modified":"2019-08-04T15:52:20","modified_gmt":"2019-08-04T15:52:20","slug":"woods","status":"publish","type":"kbe_knowledgebase","link":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/?kbe_knowledgebase=woods","title":{"rendered":"Woods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Whenever I thought of landowners earning income from woods, I thought it\nmeant trees were felled and sold for the wood. But it is much more than this,\nwhich I learned when I read Jane Austen, Edward Knight, & Chawton:\nCommerce & Community<\/strong> by Linda Slothouber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor Edward Knight and the Knight estate owners who preceded him, unlike\nmany others, exploitation of the woodlands was a long-term, strategically\nmanaged business, conducted with an eye toward preservation of the woodlands as\nwell as money-making.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a list of products from the woods:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirewood was cut and sold in different quantities as (from largest oot\nsmallest) cordwood, faggots, and bavins*, the latter two bound in bundles.\nAlthough coal was increasingly used for domestic heating (even at Chawton Great\nHouse), firewood was still in high demand in southern England. Some industries,\nsuch as brickmaking and lime-making, relied on wood for firing kilns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBark was used in the tanning of leather. There were several tanneries in\nAlton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTimber, that is, wood to be sawn into planks or used whole, had a number of\nuses. Ash timber from Chawton was advertised as suitable for coach-makers\u2019 or\nwheelwrights\u2019 use, and local builders bought oak timber for house construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHop poles cut from slender branches were used to support hops while growing\nin the fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRods, small and flexible branches, were used to make hurdles and fencing,\nand for other purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is so interesting is that you don\u2019t necessarily have to cut down a tree\nfor all of these products. Read on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTimber required felling trees or topping (cutting large branches out of the\ncrown.) Firewood, hop poles, and rods were obtained through coppicing, cutting\nwood from a tree without killing it. Shoots would re-grow from the tree\u2019s base\nor stool, and after a period of years it would be ready for coppicing again.\nEach year coppiced wood (known as underwood) and beech and oak timber were\nharvested and sold from Chawton and Knight\u2019s other Hampshire woodlands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery imaginable wood product was monetized, and woodlands were assiduously\nprotected. Brush from trimming along the roads in the woods was sold, as were\nroots from land that had been cleared; even a \u2018decayed ash\u2019 that had fallen\nbrought \u00a30.1.6 per foot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, how does all this this relate to one word in the third paragraph of\nSense and Sensibility? Slothouber describes how Jane Austen uses this\ninformation, \u201cTurning trees into money was well understood to be one of the\nquickest methods by which an estate-owner could raise cash. Jane Austen, in the\nopening paragraphs of Sense and Sensibility, exacerbated Henry Dashwood\u2019s\nfinancial predicament (and made it more credible to her contemporary readers)\nby stating that he was legally prevented from selling any of the \u2018valuable woods\u2019\non the Norland estate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So one word “woods” describes an on-going money-making enterprise,\nwhich Austen’s contemporary readers would understand. For the rest of us, I\nthink many would interpret it to mean that you would cut your trees for income\nand that would be it. At best, a land-owner would replant for the next\ngenerations to enjoy or use for profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is much more in the book that explains the economics of running an\nestate and I highly recommend it.
\nJane Austen, Edward Knight, & Chawton: Commerce & Community by Linda\nSlothouber. Chapter 4: pages 31 – 33<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Bavins – a piece of kindling wood
\nFaggots – a bundle of sticks, twigs, or branches bound together and used as\nfuel, a fascine, a torch, etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whenever I thought of landowners earning income from woods, I thought it meant trees were felled and sold for the wood. But it is much more than this, which I learned when I read Jane Austen, Edward Knight, & Chawton: … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","kbe_taxonomy":[254],"kbe_tags":[368,466],"class_list":["post-12348","kbe_knowledgebase","type-kbe_knowledgebase","status-publish","hentry","kbe_taxonomy-land-estates","kbe_tags-landowner-expenses","kbe_tags-woods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/kbe_knowledgebase"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12348"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12352,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/kbe_knowledgebase\/12348\/revisions\/12352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"kbe_taxonomy","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_taxonomy&post=12348"},{"taxonomy":"kbe_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pemberley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fkbe_tags&post=12348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}