INTRODUCTION TO COURSE OF FORESTRY LECTURES. 181 
deal of land in Scotland would be found to fall within this 
definition. 
It is said that an additional area of six million acres of forest 
migh# produce the whole of the timber (excluding mahogany, teak, 
and fancy woods) that we now import; and we have nearly 
27 million acres of waste lands in the British Isles, of which 
about 13? millions, or one-half, are in Scotland. The question is 
one with which I am not yet ina position to deal at all fully; but 
it is evident that even if the establishment of additional forests on 
a large scale in the near future be unlikely, it is not too soon to 
exercise forethought in the matter of our timber supply, and to 
‘endeavour to arrive at some safe conclusion as to what measures 
might most advantageously be taken to secure it. I may, how- 
ever, say that it appears, from the agricultural returns of 1891, 
that while the area of corn-growing land in Great Britain has 
considerably decreased, the area of woods and plantations has 
increased by nearly 100,000 acres in the last three years, and the 
increase would probably have been larger had not the rating of 
woodlands to some extent discouraged it. In Scotland the greatest 
increase has been in the counties of Aberdeen, Inverness, Ross 
and Cromarty. Forests are not so exhausting to the soil as 
agricultural crops ; for in the case of the latter the entire plant, 
except the roots, which are sometimes also taken, is removed ; 
whereas in the case of a crop of trees, the leaves, flowers, and fruit, 
which are far richer in nutritive elements than the wood, are 
annually returned to the soil, and thus serve to maintain its 
productive power, as well as, by their protective action, to keep 
it in a good physical condition. Hence forests can flourish on 
comparatively poor soil; some kinds of trees, notably most of 
the conifers, including the Scots pine, being able to grow on 
ground that would be quite incapable of producing a series of 
remunerative agricultural crops. It is therefore, generally speak- 
ing, not necessary to select rich fertile soils for the raising of 
forests, which ought rather to be established and maintained on 
ground which cannot be profitably cultivated. Scotland has a 
large extent of land of this kind, which could be planted up 
without detriment to the sporting interests; and there seems no 
reason why this country should not be able to produce as fine and 
valuable timber as is obtained from the shores of the Baltic and 
from other parts of Northern Europe. There is, then, plenty of 
work before Scottish foresters, both in the way of making the most 
