FORESTRY IN BRITAIN. 65 
one to two shillings per acre, it is found to have yielded a net sum 
equal to a revenue to the landlord during the whole period of its 
growth of over nine shillings per acre per annum, or an increased . 
value of quite seven shillings per acre per annum. Although it 
refers to only a single wood of limited extent, this return shows 
how profitable waste land may become under timber. No doubt 
from the estates of others of our landlords who own extensive wood- 
lands, where, if there is not the highest scientific forestry, there is 
certainly good wood management, results of an equally instructive 
kind could be obtained—many would be better ; and it is much to 
be desired, in the interest of forestry, that they should be made 
known, as an object-lesson to those who doubt the profit of tree- 
growing. 
But in the return I quote from, there is another interesting point 
which I must not fail to note. During the period of growth of the 
wood, the outlay upon labour in connection with it amounted to a 
sum equal to an expenditure of over thirty-one shillings per acre 
per annum. That is to say, this sum was distributed in wages to 
the people of the neighbourhood. ‘This exhibits the benefits 
brought in the train of forestry, which are no less important to the 
community at large than is the profit of the crop to the landowner. 
The scientific treatment of woodlands, and cultivation of forests for 
profit on a proper scale, involve the employment of a considerable 
amount of labour, much of it at a time when there is little else 
doing in country districts, not only in the actual tending of the 
forest area, but in the manipulation and subsequent preparation of 
the timber, and in the manufacture of the numerous by-products 
obtainable from it. In these days of congestion in cities, the 
importance of the development of such an industry, which can 
provide occupation in the country, and thus may aid in restraining 
migration to the towns, has not escaped notice, and it cannot be 
too often or too greatly emphasised. 
The influences, to which we have just given attention, that have 
prevailed in bringing about the present limited area of woodland 
in Britain are, it will be seen, not wholly irremovable, nor are the 
obstacles to betterment insurmountable. And the question we 
have now to discuss is—-How are these to be counteracted and 
overcome? By what means is it possible to bring forestry in 
Britain more in line with that of other nations? At the outset I 
would say that if forestry is to be established on a sound com- 
mercial basis, the only one on which it should rest, if we are to 
VOL. XIV, PART II. E 
