BRITISH FORESTRY AND ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS. 175 



obtainable, and cheap instruction in Forestry than to try to 

 acquire and work a State model forest in Scotland. 



Even with such instruction obtainable, it must be understood 

 by those who may propose to devote themselves to the study of 

 Forestry as a profession, that they will be pioneers in an art new 

 to this country, that they will have to create their own profes- 

 sional opportunities, and that their main chance of obtaining 

 employment will depend on their ability to prove the value of 

 their professional knowledge. And, for some time to come, 

 there will probably be only a very limited number of positions 

 available for foresters with university education, so that only 

 the best equipped and most energetic will be likely to obtain 

 ready employment. But the future prospects of the timber 

 market in Britain are such that there should soon be a real 

 demand for the services of such men. 



The second of the essential changes which must take place in 

 order to brighten the future prospects of Forestry in Britain is, 

 that substantial encouragement and assistance should be given 

 by Government to induce landowners to adopt economic Forestry, 

 and to plant the waste areas or the poor pasture lands which 

 unfortunately abound in many parts of the country. It is 

 matter for regret that nothing was done for Forestry in the 

 Highlands when the Congested Districts Act was passed a year 

 or two ago, although the social and economical advantages of an 

 extensive system of planting in many parts of the kingdom, 

 especially on the west side of Ireland and in the Highlands of 

 Scotland, was considered by the Forestry Committee in 1887 to 

 be a subject of great importance, and well worthy of early 

 consideration. 



I am afraid that, as a class, landowners regard Forestry at the 

 present moment with indifference, and the causes of this seem 

 fourfold. In the first place, most of them have only a life 

 interest in their estates ; and so many calls are made upon them 

 that they have seldom money to spare for planting timber crops 

 for the benefit of their successors. As a long time usually elapses 

 before plantations yield any considerable return on the capital 

 invested in them, Government might perhaps render assistance 

 by enabling advances of money to be obtained at a low rate of 

 interest as one of the first charges on estates by landowners 

 desirous of forming woodlands to be managed economically, and 

 not merely for shelter-woods, as at present. And the same 



