Slasher Magazine Summary: Publication No. 200 - August 1964
The scanned images of the Slasher were produced by and courtesy of the Forest Research Data and Information Team staff based at Roslin, where some of the original copies are located. The Forestry England Information Knowledge Management Team and New Forest Heritage made available copies of The Slasher from their collections. Brian Mahony of the FC Retirement Association devised and coordinates the Slasher Project and has been instrumental in locating many missing editions and coordinating the searches to locate all the earlier publication numbers.
The content summary below was again very kindly compiled by Diane Birkett, Bedfordshire. See PDF attachment link below the text summary to view the full document. A total of over 420 issues or publications were produced between January 1948 and the final publication in 2010.
Retirements
Lt. Col. Sir Richard Cotterell, has retired after serving as a Forestry Commissioner since 1945. He is an acknowledged expert on the growing of ash and his plantations of this species have been seen and admired by many foresters from overseas. His chestnut coppice won for him the Royal Agricultural Society’s premier award in the competitions associated with the Royal Show — the Gold Medal Certificate. Sir Richard attended a retirement presentation at Brown's Hotel, which was also attended by Lord Waldegrave, the Earl of Radnor, Sir Henry Beresford-Peirse, Mr J.R. Thom, Mr J.Q. Williamson and Mr H.A. Turner.
Mr Bertie Gale, resident Forester at Northerwood House has retired after 44 years service to forestry. He started as a forest worker in 1920 and the following year went to the then Forest Apprentices School in the Dean. On leaving the school he was first a ganger and then a Forester in South West England and the New Forest. In 1935 he was seconded for service in the Isle of Man and remained there until 1947, when he was appointed an Instructor at the Dean School. From there he went to Northerwood in 1952.
Holmsley Camp Site Opened
The Holmsley Camp Site in the New Forest was formally opened in time to accommodate campers over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Situated in the north west corner of the former airfield, it comprises some 23 acres, of which nine acres are hard standing and the remainder heathland. It is fenced and a cattle grid has been installed at the entrance to keep away commoners’ animals.
The campsite provides accommodation for about 200 caravans and 100 tents and has been constructed at a cost of £16,000.
The opening ceremony was performed by Sir Richard Cotterell and was his last official task as a Commissioner before his retirement. He used a slasher to cut a tape at the entrance and this tool, it is understood, is being mounted and presented to him as a souvenir of the occasion.
Obituary
Mr Jim Atkinson who was, until his retirement on medical grounds in December, 1960, a Foreman in Allerston Forest, Yorkshire. A local man from farming stock, he joined the Commission in 1929 when the first planting in Newton Dale was undertaken. He was seconded to the Home Timber Production Department during the last war.
How Old Is That Stag?
Many foresters claim to be able to tell the age of a red deer stag from the size and form of its antlers, but of course it casts them once a year and in the hornless condition there is no ready guide.
Recently an article in the "Hungarian Agricultural Review" suggests the following method of determining the age of stags standing quietly.
If the contour line of the back of the stag viewed from the side is elongated onwards, this imaginary line departs from the body picture at a height characteristic for the age of life.
The elongated line of the back of a two-year-old stag departs from the body in the middle of the throat, that of a five-year-old stag near the tip of the muzzle, and that of a nine-year-old stag directly under the eye. The black line of an eleven-year-old stag (with ten antlers) at a critical age of antler development depasses through the eye. The back line of a thirteen-year-old stag is between the eye and beam of the antler.
Nature Notes
Black labradors are a popular breed of dog with Foresters and, for obvious reasons, many of our
Warreners. It was largely through observing the intelligence of these dogs in the woods (writes the Editor) that I decided to acquire one - perhaps a little misguidedly since I live in a town with a not over-large garden.
One of the family prides and joys was (until the elephantine creature joined us) a fair-sized lawn in reasonable condition. The grass, however, has long lost its lido-like appearance and the smooth surface has given way to arid undulations reminiscent of the latest moon pictures. One reason for this is that we have been plagued by hedgehogs which, conversely, have delighted the labrador. On many occasions, late at night, I have gone into the garden with a torch, to find the dog happily loping around the lawn with a hedgehog in his mouth. Once we found one of these insectivorous quadrupeds, bristling with fleas, proudly dumped outside the dining room door. I have speculated on two counts - one, how did the dog get the hedgehogs into his mouth without harm, and secondly, why always after a visitation the same pattern of damage to the lawn was apparent. This latter never varied - a circular and foot-wide or so "moat" of torn-up grass, in the centre of which was left a small undamaged "island" a few inches in diameter.
It was a reader's letter to a Sunday newspaper that gave me the clue. Writing from Scotland, a lady said her labrador had just brought home its 102nd hedgehog; she added that the dog got the hedgehog into its mouth by the simple expediency of tearing up grass and rolling the hedgehog in it until its spines were well covered and virtually harmless.
Badgers at Selby
Forester K. Mills, of Selby Forest, North East England, writes: Following up a note in the Commission Journal we decided to train badgers on one section of the forest (a seed orchard site), using the usual weighted swinging gates inserted in the boundary fence. Starting with three and building up to 13 now all in use, we considered the results successful. The area is cleared of rabbits and in 1963 to test our faith in the rabbit "proofness" of the fence and gates, we planted eight acres of "ordinary" trees on an area not destined for "seed" trees. This has led to our discovering another peculiarity of badgers, in that (here, at least) they scratch out some of the newly planted trees in order to perform their ablutions in the loosened soil.
Trophy for Deer Conservation
A trophy to be awarded annually to the person who has done most to promote the proper conservation and control of deer has been presented to the Commission in South Scotland. This is the gift of Miss E.M.C. Balfour-Browne, made in memory of her late artist brother. The trophy, entitled "The Challenge", takes the form of a red deer stag, mounted and inscribed, and cast in silver from an original in bronze by the late Mr Vincent Balfour-Browne, whose studies in oils and water colour of deer are famous.
At a ceremony in Dumfries, attended by the Conservator, South Scotland, Mr J.A.B. MacDonald and Mr W.N. Gibson, Divisional Forest Officer, the trophy was handed by its donor to its first holder Mr Kenneth MacArthur, in recognition of his studies of deer and advice and assistance to the Commission and private woodland owners over a long period.
"Hams" Please Note
Forester R.S. Hodgson, Ringwood North, in the New Forest Division, recently obtained his amateur transmitting licence and would like to hear from any member of the staff with similar interests, with a view to contact on the air being arranged. His address for correspondence is Forest Lodge, Horton Road, Ashley Heath, Ringwood, Hants.
Ospreys Safely Fledged
The Council for Nature report that by the end of July the three young ospreys had left their eyrie at Loch Garten, Inverness-shire, although they were occasionally returning to be fed.
Since 1959, twelve osprey have been reared from this nest, and the eyrie tree has survived the nesting season in spite of an attempt by vandals earlier this year to cut it down. The nest has been guarded by the R.S.P.B. night and day since April, and over 21,000 people have been able to watch the ospreys this season.
The R.S.P.B. has now closed the observation post and the peat road to it, and ask the public not to visit the nest area because of the fire danger.
The results of the analysis of an osprey egg taken by the R.S.P.B. by Nature Conservancy licence from the unsuccessful Speyside eyrie are not yet available from the Government Chemist. The R.S.P.B. wished to discover whether or not chemical insecticides had made the eggs infertile.
Any Old Iron?
Scattered around the countryside at various Commission units, more often than not in an abandoned state (writes Head Forester R.J. Jennings, the Dean) are disused ammunition huts made of sheets of curved corrugated steel. If you are about to dismantle yours and sell it for scrap, I suggest you don't send it all away but keep a couple of the best sections. They may come in useful when you have to clear out your pond or emergency water supply.
Several years ago I had one of these to deal with; it had been used by cattle as a watering place before the advent of piped water and no-one locally could recall it having been cleaned out for more than 30 years. With a surface area of some 200 square yards, slippery banks of boulder clay rising three feet above the water level and a layer of mud two feet in depth on the bottom, it presented me with a few problems.
Although the work was to be undertaken in July when the water was drying up, the removal of the ooze and muddy deposit that had accumulated over a long period was an objectionable job and at first sight it was difficult to know how to start. However, realising that if something was not done while the weather was fine and dry and knowing that one day’s good rain might prevent the job being done for another year, I gave instructions that four men were to be given a large shovel and a pair of waders apiece and that, working from the edge of the pond, they were to dig out the spoil as best they could and throw it as quickly as they were able on to the bank some two or three feet above them.
The result was as I had expected. The men said they were being ostracised at meal times, etc. and there was a plea for larger tools to work with and murmurs that it was about time that some more modern method of operating was devised. I did my best and the following morning saw them wheeling out the spoil from the bottom of the pond in a barrow with caterpillar tracks, along planks I had borrowed from a neighbouring farmer. But this also proved a failure for after several trips ashore the wood became wet and slippery and, to the strains of the "Eton Boating Song" rendered by the more fortunate employees who were weeding seedbeds, within sight of the pond, the wheelbarrow turned turtle and sank with all hands.
While the men were going home to change their clothes, I wandered around the toolsheds and nursery buildings racking my brains for something else to try and when I had almost given up hope, I suddenly came upon the very thing we wanted. Two sheets of curved corrugated steel on the scrap heap which, when loaded with mud by the men standing in the pond were used alternatively as sledges and hauled up the slippery banks by the tractor with no difficulty whatsoever. The job was completed with no further complaints in a very short time.
Pensioner At 89
Forester W. Arnott, of Andover Forest, South East England, writes: Many of our older Foresters will be glad to know that Mr George Taylor senior, who for many years was a Forester in the Dean, is still enjoying his retirement and is in his 89th year. The years have not dimmed his humour and his tales of the days gone by are now almost legendary. When I last met him we were discussing some of his old acquaintances. I mentioned that a Mr Harper, whose daughter had been a Clerical Officer at Whitemead Park, lived near me and that I saw him quite often. With a twinkle in his eye our old friend said: "When you do see George Harper next, tell him that when I be jud (dead), him will have to consider, for I be a fortnight older’n 'ee.".