ESTABLISHMENT OF STATE MODEL FORESTS FOR SCOTLAND. 207 
quality is produced in this country, it cannot be denied that our 
home-grown wood is, for the most part, inferior in quality to that 
imported from abroad; and this is so far generally recognised that 
home-grown produce, even of the best quality, is but little used 
in Government or in private works of construction. Indeed, until 
recently, the use of such timber for the erection of buildings under 
the Land Improvement Act, 1864, was not permitted without the 
special sanction of the Board of Agriculture, and even now it is 
thought necessary to prescribe that when thus used it must be of 
suitable dimensions and be cut from trees that are sound and of 
proper age and size. Again, the Postmaster-General, having been 
recently requested to try home-grown Scots fir as telegraph posts, 
replied,—‘“ The results . . . show that Scots fir is less strong than 
the Norway red fir in general use by the Department. It is, 
moreover, less straight, and less free from large and rough knots. 
Apart from the question of the comparative merits of the Scots and 
Norwegian fir, the difficulty and delay experienced in obtaining 
even small parcels of Scots fir suitable for telegraph poles renders 
it necessary for the Department to resort to the Norwegian market 
in order to obtain adequate supplies.” 
Dr Schlich, in his exhaustive paper! on the Timber Supply of 
the British Empire, has pointed out that, while the annual value 
of our imports has risen by about £2,000,000 during the past 
eight years, the permanence of our supplies from abroad is very far 
from being assured; and thus we may before long find ourselves 
face to face with a scarcity which must lead to an enhancement of 
the price of timber. It may also be mentioned as a significant fact 
that timber has maintained its price during recent years better 
than almost any other raw material, and this can only be ascribed 
to the more accessible supplies of foreign timber having been 
appreciably exhausted. 
Again, the forest question has much greater importance in Scot- 
land than in England ; for the agricultural returns show that out of 
a total area of mountain and heath Jand used for grazing, amounting 
in the United Kingdom to about 124 millions of acres, nearly 94 
millions are in Scotland; while out of a total additional area of 
nearly 9 millions of acres of unused waste land and inland water, 
about 44 millions are situated in Scotland. It is not known what 
proportion of these vast extents of country are suitable and available 
1 «¢ Forestry Education,” Transactions, Vol. XV. Part 2. 
