18 FORESTRY. 
their food is provided. As for cover, there is no cover better than 
young wood up to 15 or 20 years, and in a woodland managed on 
economic principles there will always be a due proportion of young 
wood, into which birds may be driven for the rise. 
But there is one form of game absolutely incompatible not 
only with profitable but with decent forestry. Will any landowner 
honestly and boldly calculate what ground game—especially 
rabbits—cost him per acre of plantation? Every yard of ground 
that is planted must be wire netted, and this cannot be done at 
less than 6d a yard. Where the woodland is worked in proper 
annual rotation, ten acres, say, felled every year, and ten acres 
replanted, the cost of wire netting is at a minimum, for a square of 
ten acres may be fenced for between £20 and £30—say an addi- 
tional cost of 50s an acre. A pretty heavy inroad upon capital 
expenditure ; but you must multiply this indefinitely if you wish 
to deal with blocks of less than 10 acres—if you wish, for intsance, 
to plant up blanks in woodland from half an acre to two or three 
acresjin extent. And even this is not all. Where the detestable 
rabbit abounds, ground cleared of timber cannot be restored by 
natural regeneration. In such a case there must be placed to the 
debit of the rabbit account, not only 50s an acre (the cost of 
wire-netting), but £6 an acre (the cost of replanting), which would 
be unnecessary on ground suitable for natural regeneration. In 
other words, the presence of rabbits means an initial tax upon 
young forest of £8 10s an acre—which may be equal to half the 
fee of the land. If British forestry is ever to regain the place to 
which our soil, climate, and requirements entitle it, it must be 
relieved from the intolerable scourge of rabbits. The place for 
the rabbit—and the only place—is the warren. In those scenes 
I showed on the screen from Ashridge Park you may have noticed 
how bare was the ground, not only under, but around the beech 
trees. To show what that ground is capable of doing in the way 
of natural regeneration, look at this part of it, which has been 
protected from rabbits and deer for the last 15 or 20 years. 
SHELTER. 
3rd. Shelter—Shelter from sea blasts or from the prevailing 
wind is a most legitimate object in forming a plantation. I have 
only a few words to say about it. Do not grudge a few acres in 
laying out belts. Even a narrow strip affords warmth and shelter 
