6o TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Hairmyres has proved that the blending of the two will (as in 

 Germany) often solve labour difficulties in rural districts, in that 

 foresters can come to the aid of agriculture at harvest and other 

 times of pressure when forestry work is less urgent. It is an 

 interesting fact that on an average every sixth man among the 

 .German prisoners knew about forestry— if not actually a skilled 

 forester, as many of them are. In the question of combining 

 forestry with agriculture, it is appropriate to quote from the 

 Memorandum on The Recent Development of German Agricu/ture, 

 by Mr T. H. Middleton, Assistant Secretary, Board of Agricul- 

 ture and Fisheries : — 



' The Assistance given by Forests. — It is difficult to exag- 

 gerate the importance to the farmer of arable land of such 

 industries as provide work for rural labourers in the winter 

 months, and in this connection attention may be drawn to 

 the benefit which German agriculture derives from the 

 35 million acres of land under forests ; for woodlands 

 provide much winter employment, and thus reduce the 

 amount of the labour bill falling upon cultivated land. 



'This combination of forestry and agriculture, the former 

 providing winter and the latter summer employment, enables 

 large tracts of poor land in Germany to support a consider- 

 able rural population. In Britain similar tracts of country 

 are almost uninhabited.' 



" The two subjects — forestry and agriculture — as shown by Mr 

 Middleton, instead of being antagonistic, are co-operative in the 

 strongest possible sense. Many discharged men who desire or 

 who may for health reasons require to live in the country, and 

 have no capital with which to stock a holding, would find in 

 national forestry an ideal life. 



" What has been and is being accomplished by ladies, by 

 schoolboys, and by children at Hairmyres, conclusively proves 

 that much in forestry can and should, meantime, be accom- 

 plished without in any way affecting the issues of the war, and 

 without causing financial strain at home. 



" Surveys for national schemes have to be made ; seed-beds 

 have to be prepared ; seeds have to be gathered, sown, and 

 cultivated ; all of which work would be of unspeakable interest 

 and value to many unable for military service, and to those who 

 have suffered by service it may be the means of restoring them 



