INSUFFICIENCY OF THE WORLD'S TIMBER SUPPLY. 387 



usefal, and should be persisted in because they fulfil an important 

 public object. But such purchases are rather -works of defence 

 against the forces of nature than investments in timber forests. 

 Occasionally, no doubt, rich forests may be found on the borders 

 of a torrent or on precipitous country, but their proper and 

 natural place is in the plains, on the plateaux, or on mountains 

 of moderate character. It is there that oak or fir forests should 

 be maintained. Formerly the idea was to clear the plains and 

 plant the mountains. It was a mistake. Forests are no less 

 needed in the plains than in the hills. The plains furnish timber 

 that cannot be obtained from the hills, and all plains are not good 

 for agriculture. 



There is not a moment to be lost. Forest produce cannot be 

 procured at a moment's notice like a loan of cash. It requires a 

 century or a century and a half to produce sawyer's timber, and 

 the famine will begin ere fifty years are past. 



VOL. xvi. part in. 2d 



