4 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



annual exports of several of the countries from which we draw 

 our main supplies largely exceed the amount which their forests 

 annually produce. In other words — in order to maintain their 

 present high rate of export, they are cutting much more than 

 they grow, and are thus dipping deeply into the wood-capital, 

 which is their producing agent — the layer of their golden eggs ! 

 It is not difficult to see that this process cannot be indefinitely 

 maintained. Indeed, experts are agreed that present over-con- 

 sumption is undoubtedly leading to a wood-famine, or at best to 

 a scarcity, which cannot fail to cause a rise in prices in the com- 

 paratively near future ; and it will be to our advantage to place 

 ourselves, as soon as possible, in a position to profit by such a 

 rise whenever it may occur. It would evidently be to the interest 

 of owners of land that we should occupy this position ; and it 

 would be no less to the advantage of those who make it their 

 business to manage wooded estates, and who might reasonably 

 expect that the efficient management of a more profitable business 

 would entitle them to an improvement in their position and 

 prospects. But we cannot reckon on occupying this advantageous 

 position unless a considerable proportion of our woods is organised 

 on business principles. A larch tree requires seventy or eighty 

 years to attain its most profitable dimensions; and if, at the 

 expiry of that time, the crop is to be a complete one, composed 

 of sound trees of full size, the wood must be managed with this 

 end in view throughout the entire period of its growth. Such 

 management is best secured by means of a plan or scheme, called 

 a Working Plan, which defines the object aimed at, lays down the 

 general outlines of the means by which it is to be attained, and 

 usually prescribes in some detail the work to be done during the 

 first few years. Guided by such a plan, it is possible to avoid the 

 changes too often introduced by new proprietors or managers, to 

 the great prejudice of thoir woods, which, when thus treated, 

 frequently present a disappointing appearance at the stage of 

 growth when thinnings might be expected to yield a considerable 

 profit. 



Land devoted to the production of timber ought to be made to 

 yield up to its full capacity, consistently with the provision of a 

 sustained out-turn j but this cannot be looked for unless the factory 

 contains a full complement of able-bodied and efficient workmen ; 

 or, in other words, unless the ground be fully stocked with 

 healthy trees, each of which is adding duly to his own bulk 



