FORESTRY EDUCATION. 91 
timber would be allowed to be used. If we take these broad 
facts into consideration, it is easy to perceive that the explanation 
may be condensed into the following two statements :—(1) The 
home-grown timber is, generally speaking, inferior in quality to 
that imported from abroad; (2) it comes into the market at 
irregular intervals and in fluctuating quantities. Exceptions 
exist, but here only the average conditions can be considered. 
These drawbacks can be removed only by improved sylvicultural 
methods, and a systematic management of the forests. You all 
know now that the plantations in this country have been too 
heavily thinned during the first half of their life. By such a 
procedure you can, perhaps, secure an increased average production 
per year and acre, but at the cost of quality. Here I mean the 
quality of timber now produced does not fetch the same price as 
that imported from abroad. However much we may demonstrate 
that the timber grown in this country is of as good or even better 
lasting quality, still the eating of the pudding is the proof thereof. 
The fact remains as stated above. 
I need hardly remind you that, in the case of most estates in 
this country, cuttings are made at irregular intervals. Sometimes 
a proprietor prefers his woods to the cash which he can realise 
from them ; in others, exceptionally large quantities are cut all 
at once to meet a special demand for money ; and last, but not 
least, frequently enormous quantities of timber are thrown down 
by an exceptionally strong gale. 
All these things are detrimental to a profitable utilisation of 
the material. Under such conditions a regular market cannot 
be developed, nor rational and cheap methods of converting 
the material be employed. The whole thing is haphazard, and 
neither the proprietors nor the timber merchants derive the full 
benefit which the industry is capable of yielding. This state of 
things can be remedied only by a systematic working of the 
forests, so that annually the same, or approximately the same, 
quantity of timber is offered for sale. Timber merchants, knowing 
this, will make their arrangements accordingly. A regular 
demand for the produce, and a well-organised trade in home- 
grown timber, will be developed. Improved means of extracting 
the timber, better means of communication, and high-class saw-mills 
will make their appearance, leading to a considerable reduction 
in the cost of extraction and conversion. In the same degree, 
an increased surplus is realised, the greater part of which will, 
