RAILWAY AND CANAL TRAFFIC ACT IX RELATION TO FORESTRY. 429 



cultivation of home pitwood in distant parts of the country. This 

 should stimulate the planting and growth of collieiy timber in 

 these distant districts to an enormous extent, — consuming within 

 the country our native produce, and utilising for the national 

 benefit many tracts of land which now are said to be unproductive 

 either to the propi'ietor or for the general good. 



In considering the revenue to be derived from pitwood, it is 

 no exaggeration to expect an eighteen years' growth of fir to 

 produce 30,000 lineal feet of light props per acre, the market 

 price of which at a shipping port is four shillings per 100 feet, 

 and which on an average, if grown within the twenty-mile radius 

 of the colliery districts, is of the same value at the nearest 

 railway station. This gives a gross value of £60 per acre for the 

 eighteen years ; and deducting therefrom the recognised average 

 outlay for planting, tending, and delivery to a station, say six miles 

 distant, at £20, leaves a nett revenue to the credit of rent of £40 

 for the acre for eighteen years. This calculation is based on a 

 minimum of production of timber, and assuming this to be of the 

 smallest size; but the revolution that has taken place in the conduct 

 of the pitwood trade caused by the colliery legislation of recent 

 years, has led merchants to adapt the trade to the demands, and 

 instead of long lengths being supplied to consumers direct, as had 

 previously been the custom, the operatives being allowed to 

 crosscut their own w^ood. Parliament now stipulates that operatives 

 shall be supplied with their exact requirements. In cross-cutting, 

 therefore, in the woods, or at shipping ports, as is now done, an 

 average tree of eighteen years' growth will produce half its length 

 of a much larger size, so that instead of four shillings being 

 realised as the price, the full value is increased by 30 to 40 

 per cent. It has also been assumed that the whole area of ground 

 has been planted with firs, the lowest priced pi'oduce, while the 

 generally approved practice would naturally be carried out by an 

 admixture of lai'ch, which would again yield a proportionate 

 increase of value in the total revenue from the acre. These 

 figures are not given for the purpose of demonstrating the 

 luci-ative results of tree cultivation. This has repeatedly been 

 shown, but the numerous obstacles in the way of realisation 

 have been generally excluded. The removal, however, of the 

 serious obstacle which has hitherto existed in the shape of 

 preferential railway rates ought to stir up enthusiasm in the 

 advancement of forestry ; and in the development that must follow, 



