1909]! on Afforestation. 635 



believe that storms and tree pests are less destructive here than 

 elsewhere. 



There is one objection which is often raised by people who have 

 woods or forests on their properties, and that is, that the prices 

 obtained are not, on the whole, remunerative, but when we consider 

 the small quantities, the irregular supply, want of business connection, 

 and entire absence of all organisation for conversion or transport 

 which are characteristic of present conditions, the wonder is that in 

 these days of narrow margins timber is worth cutting at all. 



That forests can be remunerative is evident if we look no further 

 than France or Germany. In Germany, where vast areas are scien- 

 tifically managed, the State derives a substantial return from the 

 forest areas, although prices run considerably lower than those obtain- 

 able at home, and generally speaking, the natural conditions are not 

 so good. The State of Wiirtemberg shows a net annual return of 

 one pound five shilUngs and four pence per acre ; w^hile Saxony, which 

 is said to most closely resemble our economic and physical conditions, 

 shows over an area of 429,800 acres of forests, a net annual return 

 of one pound two shillings per acre, after deducting outgoings. The 

 official valuation of this forest is over nineteen millions sterling. 

 Continental forests are therefore a successful State enterprise, and it 

 seems impossible to escape the inference that wx may do likewise 

 [sHdes shown]. 



Neither in theory nor in practice is there any reason why forestry 

 should not be profitably pursued in the United Kingdom. Some 

 people imagine that this can only be true if good agricultural land 

 is acquii'ed and planted with oak or ash, and they point out that the 

 displacement of the agricultural community, and economic waste in- 

 volved in the conversion, would be out of all proportion to the gain, 

 however sanguine the prospect. With regard to this objection, I may 

 say at once that we do not propose to take agricultural land, and we 

 do not propose to plant oaks, though perhaps some of the heavy clay 

 land in the Eastern counties which is at present out of cultivation 

 might be given up to this. 



The conifer is a tree of commerce par excellence, and it will grow 

 on relatively poor and unproductive land. The amount of laud of 

 this character suitable for aft'oresting has been very variously estimated, 

 and without what is called a cadastral survey it is impossible to form 

 a very accurate idea of what is available, but I think you may take it 

 from calculations based upon information supplied to us ])y the Board 

 of Agriculture, that there are, without materially encroaching upon 

 agricultural land, some nine million acres below the fifteen hundred 

 feet contour line which could profitably be employed for the purpose 

 of growing timber crops [slide shown]. 



At the present moment we import from countries that have a 

 climate more or less similar to our own, and therefore produce the 

 same classes of timber, wood to the value of something over twenty 



