96 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTITSH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



woods, to afforest 1,770,000 acres. Taking eighty years as the 

 average rotation, we advise that two-thirds of the whole should 

 be planted in the first forty years. We consider that the quota to 

 be planted in the first ten years should, in view of the initial diffi- 

 culties, be limited to 200,000 acres, of which we advise 150,000 

 acres should be planted by the State and 50,000 acres by public 

 bodies and private individuals assisted by grants, or by co- 

 operation between them and the State. The area to be planted by 

 the State in subsequent years may be reduced in the same degree 

 as private individuals come forward to undertake the work. 



"(6) It is not proposed to plant arable land, but a limited 

 area of arable land should be acquired with the forest sites, 

 wherever possible, in order to provide small holdings for forest 

 workers. Our proposals carry with them the important con- 

 tingent advantage that they will cause large areas of the United 

 Kingdom, now almost waste, to be put to their best economic 

 use. They will also, if provision is made in time, afford the 

 means for settling discharged soldiers on the land under healthy 

 conditions. 



"(7) Foresty demands long views, but the first-fruits are not 

 so long delayed as many imagine. The policy of State afforesta- 

 tion which we recommend will begin to provide pit-wood, from 

 the quicker-growing species on the better kinds of mountain 

 land, from the fifteenth year onwards ; by the fortieth year the 

 plantations made in the first ten years alone will contain sufficient 

 timber to keep our pits supplied, in emergency, for two years on 

 the scale of present consumption. 



"(8) The first essential is a Forest Authority equipped with 

 funds and powers to survey, purchase, lease, and plant land, and 

 generally to administer the areas acquired, with compulsory 

 powers to be exercised, when needed, after due enquiry and the 

 award of fair compensation. The care of forestry, now divided 

 among several departments, should be centralised in this body. 



" (9) We recommend that the Authority should be authorised 

 to make limited grants for every acre replanted or newly 

 afforested during the first ten years after the war by public 

 bodies or private individuals ; such plantations to be made in 

 accordance with approved plans and conditions. 



" (10) We estimate the cost for the first ten years at ;!^3,425,ooo. 

 It may be necessary to invest ;^i 5,000,000 altogether in this 

 enterprise during the first forty years. After that time the 



