FORESTRY IX BRITAIN DURING THE LAST FIFTY YEARS. 29 



siderable area under wood ; and that scholarships be oflFered in 

 such counties to enable working foresters to attend courses of 

 lectures. (/) That the inequality shown to exist in the levy of 

 the estate duty on timber be redressed, (g) That the Govern- 

 ment be urged to secure the early enactment of a Bill to protect 

 owners of woods against loss by fire caused by sparks from 

 locomotives. (//) That the inquiry conducted in 1895, concerning 

 the area of woodlands, be repeated by the Board of Agriculture^ 

 and that details concerning the character of the timber crop 

 grown upon them be ascertained. (/) That the attention of 

 Corporations and Municipalities be drawn to the desirability of 

 planting with trees the catchment areas of their water-supply. 



The serious national outlook with regard to coniferous timber 

 was merely hinted at, without any suggestion being made to try 

 and improve prospects by immediate extensive planting; and 

 the Committee were unable to urge Government to form large 

 State forests, or to recommend any encouragement being given 

 to private landowners in the way of State loans, or even reduc- 

 tion of Local Rates on plantations. All the relief they were able 

 to suggest was that irregularity in the incidence of the Estate 

 Duties needs immediate revision. Indeed, though they are pre- 

 cisely matters of the first importance to landowners who may wish 

 to plant, Local Rates, Estate Duties, Damage by Sparks, Ground- 

 Game, and State Loans were classed as " minor considerations " 

 by the Committee. 



The necessity for State assistance is, however, a chronic draw- 

 back to planting for profit. Early in the last century this was 

 just as much the case as it now is. Even then, although all the 

 timber, bark, and small material from the copsewoods was easily 

 sold at good prices, want of funds prevented extensive planting 

 of waste lands. " Such lands, it must be owned, are sufficiently 

 abundant, but the great expense and slow returns of planting 

 are inconvenient to the majority of land proprietors. . . . The 

 expense of planting is immediate and certain, the profit distant 

 and precarious" {Quarterly Hevmv, 181 3, p. 9). 



This is precisely what the recent Committee on Forestry has 

 reiterated. The main drawback to planting is, and has always 

 been, and probably always will be, want of funds; all the other 

 obstacles can far more easily be removed. This is, in connection 

 with British Forestry, the only historical fact which has remained 

 absolutely unchanged during the last hundred years. 



