OUR FORESTRY PROBLEM. 221 



Mr Montgomery published, in 1902, an interesting bulletin.^ 

 Such Credit Organisations should be local, where members can 

 obtain advances at a moderate rate of interest, either for a short 

 period or on the principle of a sinking-fund. Organisations of 

 this class have, I understand, already been started in Ireland 

 and elsewhere, but a further and considerable extension would 

 doubtless prove of the greatest assistance to landed proprietors. 



The financial aspect of the problem is, of course, of the highest 

 importance, but at the same time it is most difficult to deal with, 

 owing to the absence of suitable data. The Forestry Committee 

 have taken a considerable amount of evidence on the point, and 

 arrived at the conclusion that excellent results, even with 

 indifferent management, have often been obtained from planta- 

 tions formed on land of little or no value for any other purpose. 

 Nobody expects that waste lands, which have for a long period 

 of time been exposed to deteriorating infl^uences, will at once 

 spring into full production on being planted, and this is specially 

 pointed out in the evidence ; but there can be no doubt that most 

 of our waste lands were once under forests, and, if the thing is 

 done in the right way, can again be successfully afforested in 

 spite of initial difficulties. 



In order to show how proper management will lead to inci'eas- 

 ing financial prosperity, I propose placing before the readers of 

 the World's Work a few data from the history of the Saxon State 

 Forest. Saxony is a highly industrial country, and in this respect 

 comparable with Great Britain. We have reliable statistical data 

 about these forests since the year 1817, from which it appears 

 that the area in 1817 amounted to 367,499 acres and in 1893 to 

 428,542 acres, giving an increase of 61,043 acres, equal to 17 

 per cent. These lands include good, bad, and indifferent soils, 

 and the greater pai-t are situated in mountainous districts up to 

 an elevation of nearly 3000 feet above sea-level. The yield in 

 wood per acre amounted in 1817 to 61 cubic feet; in 1893 it had 

 risen to 92 cubic feet, or an inci'ease of 31 cubic feet, equal to 50 

 per cent. We do not know what the average stock of wood 

 standing on each acre was in 1817, but in 1844 it came to 2173 

 cubic feet; in 1893 it had risen to 2658 cubic feet, representing 

 an increase in fifty years of 505 cubic feet, equal to 23 per cent. 



1 " Co-operative Agricultural Credit in Germany and Switzerland," Keport 

 by H. de F. Montgomery, D. L., Member of the Agricultural Board of Ireland, 

 1902. See Note on page 331. 



