14 ForESTRY. 
woodman, no doubt, with an efficient staff under him, but that 
forester is very seldom remunerated on a scale calculated ta 
‘secure sound technical knowledge. On some estates he combines 
the duties of forester with that of head gardener; on others he 
receives a salary equal to that of a head gamekeeper. He is at 
best but a foreman woodman, and even if he pursues sound 
routine operations, these are constantly liable to be interrupted ot 
diverted at the caprice of his employer. It would be strange, 
indeed, if the result of such a want of system proved anything 
but disastrous. Imagine any man investing liberal capital in a 
large farm without any technical knowledge of farming or the 
rotation of crops, and yet dictating to his farm bailiff how and 
where those crops were to be grown. ‘The result would be 
apparent in a very few seasons, and, so far as that farm was con- 
cerned, the balance sheet would spell bankruptcy. Even in that 
case, the amateur farmer would have the example of sound agri- 
culture as practised by his neighbours, and he would have the 
sense to pick up some knowledge as he went along. But where is 
the amateur forester to turn for guidance in this country? 
Perhaps there is not within his country a single example of close 
canopy and clean timber. To go to the State forests of England 
is to learn the shortest road to ruin; for what is the latest balance 
sheet of H.M. Office of Woods and Forests :— 
Royal Forests and Woodlands—1903-4. 
Receipts as ve a oy 202,481 18 8 
Expenditure... — AS wt 08,402. 16 of 
Balance loss ... eae ODO OMe 
There is one aspect in which a vicious system of forestry is 
far more disastrous than bad farming. |The farmer may see 
‘where he has gone wrong after the experience of two or three 
seasons, whereas mistakes in forestry do not become fully 
apparent until the third and fourth generation. 
Tue RESULT OF THINNING. 
I stood not long ago beside the owner of one of the noblest 
parks in England. He had brought me to see an oak wood, 
originally pure forest, about 50 acres in extent, which was causing 
him much concern. They were splendid trees, about 180 or 200 
