Forestry in Great Britain 153 



There is also a proposition to establish in various parts of the 

 country, State experimental forests of about 5,000 acres each. 



By March, 1914, the total allotments for forestry purposes, be- 

 sides the loan of $125,000 above mentioned, amounted to around 

 $280,000, and it was estimated that by 1916 the appropriations for 

 forestry and afforestation would have totaled to about $2,000,000 

 and would have exhausted the allotment for forestry. This sum, 

 the commissioners say, "will not permit of afforestation upon any 

 large scale, as it is scarcely sufficient to deal effectively with 

 100,000 acres unless other funds are available." 



Hence they propose to restrict themselves, besides offering 

 loans to municipalities who might afforest waste lands, to the pur- 

 chase and planting of demonstration areas in five or six districts. 



The great schemes of planting the 6 or 9 million acres of waste 

 areas are, then, postponed, and the idea of employing the unem- 

 ployed on such schemes has not materialized. It may be added 

 that since the afforestation scheme was first launched labor con- 

 ditions appear to have considerably improved. 



