82 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



be on the same basis as men's, i.e. equal pay for equal work — 

 but this expenditure would be returned in the increased profits. 



Where work can be done equally well by the women, it 

 appears waste of labour to put men on to it, at the risk of 

 having to neglect important work in woods which can only be 

 performed by men. In view of increased afforestation, and the 

 hoped-for improvement in the management of woodlands in 

 this country after the war, this matter is of great economic 

 importance. 



The question then arises as to the relative value of men's 

 versus women's labour in various forestry operations, and data 

 should be collected systematically at the present time in all 

 places where women are now carrying on different kinds of work 

 in connection with forestry. It is the aim of this article to give 

 an account of one experiment in the employment of women 

 foresters in Scotland, in the hope that it may call forth criticism 

 and comment from foresters who have had similar experience 

 or encourage other estates to make similar arrangements. 



In January last year a gang of women was organised to do 

 planting and nursery work on Sir John Stirling-Maxwell's estates 

 — at first in Renfrewshire, and later on moving north to continue 

 work on estates in Inverness-shire when the planting season 

 came on. The girls were in charge of a forewoman who had 

 some previous knowledge of the work, and in each place the 

 work was carried on under the direction of the forester. 



It was found that for light work requiring careful manipula- 

 tion and patience, such as the sorting out and counting of seed- 

 lings taken from the seed-beds, the women worked more rapidly 

 aild carefully than the men, and the placing of transplants in 

 lining-out and planting operations was thoroughly and carefully 

 done by them. In several heavy operations, results showed 

 that women labour alone was not economic, as, although they 

 could perform the work, the cost was increased by the longer 

 time taken over it, whereas when working in conjunction 

 with men the operations were better distributed and the work 

 satisfactorily performed. 



The following figures may be interesting : — 



Nursery Work. 

 Sorting out, counting seedlings, and putting into bundles : 

 Work done by women ... 3 bundles, 

 men ... 2 



