It is important to remember that wood was an important crop in 19th century Hertfordshire, and would be widely used, especially in rural area, as fuel and as building materials, and with pigs eating up the beech nuts and acorns. In addition small woods would have been kept as cover for foxes - as fox hunting was had a strong following among the rural well-to do. There were regular sales and this advert from the Herts Mercury gives details of oak trees being sold from several estates in the South East of the County. Many of the older woods that survive today have only survived because the trees were regularly harvested.
