OUR FORESTRY PROBLEM. 219 



owners would not care to sell. In Ireland the difficulties would 

 probably be much smaller. To expect Parliament to vote 

 £1,000,000 a year, and for a hundred years, is, of course, Utopian, 

 but I fail to see why the State should not do something on a smaller 

 scale. A more modest sum might be set aside for the purpose, 

 and either the Commissioners of Woods, or the Agricultural 

 Department, or both, instructed to acquire any suitable surplus 

 lands whenever opportunities offer. In this way the area of the 

 State (or Crown) forests might gradually be increased in England, 

 Wales, and Scotland. 



In Ireland operations on a somewhat larger scale might be 

 attempted, A new Irish Land Bill is about to be laid before 

 Parliament, and provision might be made in it for the acquisition 

 by the State of all waste lands which it is not necessary to 

 include in the farms to be acquired by the tenants. In this way 

 a considerable area might be obtained at a very low price. It 

 has been estimated that, of the o 235,000 acres of waste lands in 

 Ireland, not less than 3,000,000 are fit for afforestation. Most 

 of these lands can be bought for from ten shillings to one pound an 

 acre. Assuming that only half the area so bought is really fit for 

 successful afforestation, the purchase price per acre of real forest 

 land would be between one and two pounds per acre. At that 

 rate the financial success of afforestation would be ensured. In 

 Ireland, then, the State can, and in my opinion should, interfere 

 by the direct acquisition of State forests. Such a measure would 

 be a great help in the settlement of the Irish land question. 

 The labour connected with the preparation and planting of the 

 land, the subsequent management and working of the forests, and 

 the development of industries which draw their raw materials 

 from the forests, would provide just that class of additional work 

 for the small Irish farmer, especially in the poorer districts, which 

 will assist him in earning the necessary money to pay off the 

 instalments which will gradually convert him into the proprietor 

 of his farm. 



In England, Wales, and Scotland the acquisition of State 

 forests will probably be a very slow process. Here we must work 

 in a somewhat different way. We must count on extended 

 afforestation by the landed proprietors, but the State should do 

 what it can to help. The chief desideratum is to provide the 

 means of acquiring a sound knowledge of systematic forestry as 

 elaborated by scientific and practical investigation. First and 



