24 TIIANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



1884 was £180,000, or about Is. an acre, which is not more than 

 one-seventh of the surplus per acre realised from the French 

 forests. But the figures given above do not include the charges for 

 the maintenance of the forest branch of the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture's oflSce, amounting to £2992; nor do those for 188.5 include 

 the sum of £14,640 expended on new buildings, and if this be 

 added, the surplus of that year is reduced to £150,438. The 

 capital value of the State forests has been calculated on the assump- 

 tion that the mean nett revenue of £180,000 represents 2 per cent, 

 thereof ; and, thus taken, it amounts to £9,000,000, or about 

 £2, 10s. per acre as compared with £20 in France. 



The following appear to be some of the principal reasons for 

 this remarkable difference, viz. : — the much larger proportion of 

 tlie total area of the country which is occupied by forest (28 as 

 compared with 17 per cent.), the smaller population (125 as com- 

 pared with 181) per square mile, the less prosperous condition of 

 the mass of the population, and the remoteness and inaccessibility 

 of a large proportion of the forests. These circumstances tend, on 

 the one hand, to a comparatively small local consumption ; and, on 

 the other, to a reduction in the quantity of produce exported, and 

 in the prices which merchants can afford to pay for it to forest 

 proprietors. 



Rights of User, Forest Offences, Game. 



The rights which existed prior to 1848, and related chiefly to 

 firewood and pasture, but sometimes also to timber, have in a great 

 measure been commuted ; but much remains to be done in this 

 direction, there being still 514 communes to deal with. Before 1884, 

 however, the rights held by G28 communes in the State forests, 

 had been commuted or regulated, and negotiations were pending in 

 147 others. It appears from the record that there are now only 6 

 communes, holding rights in the State forests, in which the question 

 has not yet been taken up. As compensation in lieu of grazing 

 rights, many communes received forest-land with trees growing on 

 it ; but, in a large number of cases, they had hardly entered into 

 possession when they proceeded to clean-fell the timber ; and the 

 consequence is that these areas, which, if properly managed, would 

 have afforded ample fodder for the cattle, and a certain amount of 

 wood also, are almost completely ruined, and scarcely produce any 

 grass. It is said that, even when all rights have been commuted 

 as far as practicable, it will be necessary to leave from 30 to 40 



