Before Evelyn: trees, tree planting and tree management in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England

Abstract

John Evelyn’s seminal work, Sylva, or a discourse of Forest-trees (1664), is a renowned text in the history of English forestry and arboriculture, but the ideas and approaches espoused by Evelyn regarding tree propagation, tree management and tree health in the 1660s were by no means new. This article explores ideas about tree planting and tree management in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century England and connects these ideas to the later practices of tree management found in Sylva. Through examining printed and manuscript sources, this survey aims to shed more light on late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century English attitudes to trees and tree management in both print and practice. The discussion ranges from policy on the preservation of woods and trees and early importation of non-native species, to recommendations for dealing with pests and diseases and early examples of the use of trees for public amenity.