BRITISH FORESTRY AND ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS. 167 



expansion of the present demands, and for the growth of wood 

 to meet some of the special requirements of the wood-pulp 

 industry and its various developments. 



You may perhaps think that I am rather wasting your time 

 by trying to press, apparently with unnecessary detail, these 

 points on your attention. On various occasions some six or 

 seven years ago — in fact, I may say, on every possible occasion 

 when I was last in England — I tried to draw public attention 

 to the appreciation which must very soon set in, and which has 

 now already begun to make its influence felt with regard to the 

 market value of timber. And many others have been fellow- 

 workers in this same wide field. Until, however, the general 

 public, the landowners, and the State realise the importance of 

 the matter, I do not think we can expect much improvement in 

 the existing condition of Forestry throughout Britain. 



The timber-consuming trades and the nation at large may 

 perhaps feel tempted to say, " We have heard this cry of ' Wolf, 

 wolf ! ' so often in the past, that it really does not alarm us now in 

 the very least degree." Well, just let us examine these different 

 cases. A century ago the failure in the supply of oak was met 

 by the importation of teak-wood from India, and the imports have 

 gone on steadily increasing. Somewhat later on, a timber famine 

 seemed to be imminent. It was bewailed and advised on by Sir 

 Walter Scott in his celebrated articles on Forestry in the Quarterly 

 He view; and later on it was warned against by the anonymous 

 author of an excellent treatise on " Planting," published in 

 1832 by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, a 

 little work really far in advance of the contemporary knowledge 

 of Forestry. But it was averted through the great revolution 

 accomplished lyy steam communication on land and ocean. Rail- 

 ways and steamships saved Britain from what must otherwise 

 have been the disastrous effects of the clearance of the forests to 

 such an extent that only 3*8 per cent, of the total area remains 

 under woodlands. The causes that are now in operation, how- 

 ever, are such as must inevitably cause a rise in the price of 

 timber, because the requirements in timber of the three greatest 

 purchasers of foreign wood — Britain, Germany, and the United 

 States — can only be adequately met in the future by working 

 fresh tracts which have not hitherto been workable at a profit ; 

 and the working of such tracts can only now become remunera- 

 tive by enhancement in the price of timber. This rise in price 



