420 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The inevitable result of such mismanagement will be at once 

 apparent to all who have given serious consideration to the 

 subject of practical forestry. The forester working upon intelli- 

 gent lines has the satisfaction of knowing that every passing year 

 makes his woods more valuable, but here every succeeding year 

 is making them more worthless. The timber trees are few, of 

 poor quality, and are steadily decreasing in number. The soil 

 they grow in is sun-baked, wind-dried, deficient in humus, and 

 infertile. Another unfavourable circumstance is that the demand 

 for poles for the hop-gardens is slackening off in favour of per- 

 manent wirework fixtures. As the use of such permanent 

 fixtures becomes more general, the demand for small timber will 

 correspondingly decrease, and it is conceivable that a few years 

 hence even the poor prices it at present realises will not be 

 obtainable. The foolish policy of removing the leaf-mould and 

 herbage is responsible for the following results, viz. : — The 

 starving of the standard trees by depriving them of their natural 

 food ; the deterioration of the soil by sun and wind, consequent 

 upon the removal of this protecting layer ; and the prevention of 

 the natural regeneration of the woods, as the sprouting seed and 

 tender seedling are ruthlessly swept away and doomed to rot 

 ingloriously in the manure-heap. 



In view of Monsieur Melard's recent prediction that we are 

 within measurable distance of a timber famine, the continuance 

 of the methods described is not only a national reproach, but also 

 a national danger. The convincing data on which M. Melard 

 bases his calculations precludes the idea that he was aiming at a 

 cheap notoriety by playing the role of the prophetic alarmist, 

 while his painstaking labours have brought into prominence a 

 problem that demands the immediate and serious consideration 

 of political economists throughout the civilised world, and par- 

 ticularly that of the British Government. His conclusions 

 emphasise the necessity not only for an extension of our wood- 

 land areas, but also for the adoption of a better system of 

 management in some of our existing woodlands. 



That there is room in Kent and Sussex for an extension of the 

 areas under timber, and also for an improvement in the system of 

 their management, there is not the slightest doubt. Good forestry 

 aims at making the earth yield her best : it is bad forestry that, 

 with every facility for the production of the best, is content with 

 an inferior product. The following measurements of vigorous 



