370 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



up for a decrease in the light coniferous woods, apart from the fact 

 that, up to date, it has not been possible to lay them down in 

 European ports under £4 a ton, or about double what the coniferous 

 woods cost us. 



The imports into the Cape of Good Hope have steadily increased 

 of late, and they are likely to increase further, owing to the political 

 changes which have lately taken place, and the more rapid develop- 

 ment of the mining industry, once the war has been brought to a 

 conclusion. Natal is similarly situated. 



China is a country which demands our special attention. So far 

 her imports have been small, but she has little timber of her own, 

 and the imports must increase in the same degree as her commerce 

 develops. It is, perhaps, impossible to say when the great rise 

 will commence, but all the signs of the times seem to indicate that 

 it will be soon. Once the country has been opened to foreign 

 commerce and industries, China will require, owing to her size, 

 enormous quantities of timber, which will come from the western 

 ports of North America, and perhaps from Asiatic Russia. 



Japan has made great efforts to introduce systematic manage- 

 ment into her forests, but she figures in our Table already with a 

 small net import. With the l'apid development of industries, 

 Japan will require more and more timber, which her own forests 

 will not be able to furnish. 



Taking the importing non-European countries together, theie 

 can be no doubt whatever that their net imports will increase as 

 time goes on. 



The exporting non-European countries are those around the 

 Caribbean Sea, the West Coast of Africa, India, the United States 

 of America, and Canada. The first of these export mahogany and 

 other furniture woods, but they import so much lumber that their 

 net exports dwindle down to 13,000 tons a year. The West 

 Coast of Africa has exported 28,000 tons, consisting also of 

 mahogany and other hardwoods, valued at more than £9 a ton. 

 Whether that export will continue or not, it is difficult to say, 

 but under any circumstances these timbers are so expensive that 

 they do not affect the question here under discussion. British 

 India sends teak and some furniture woods ; more it cannot do, 

 having, with a forest area which may be placed at 140,000,000 

 acres, to supply a home population of some 250,000,000 

 people. 



There remain, then, the United States of America and Canada. 



