DISCUSSION ON REPORT OF FORESTRY SUB COMMITTEE. I 35 



Quote me your price.' The man immediately says to himself, 

 'This is good business for me. If I can arrange to do without 

 the expense of selling, and without any fear of having to put 

 them in the fire ultimately, I should be well able to turn the 

 stuff out at a moderate price.' 



" We dare hardly speak about Germans nowadays, but 

 I am addressing a level-headed lot of Scotsmen, and I will say 

 something about them. I visited the largest forest nursery 

 in Germany two or three years before the war and was received 

 with great kindness, and at the end I said to the man who 

 owned the place, * You have a huge stock. Is it not rather 

 dangerous? Will you be able to dispose of all this?' *0h,' 

 he said, ' the greater part of it is disposed of already. Orders 

 are booked two or three years ahead, and then I can always 

 depend on getting quit of my leavings on your countrymen.' 



"The seeds, of course, are of importance, but we have never 

 had very great difficulties with regard to that up to now, and 

 I think if we are prepared to take advantage of bumper years, 

 and store by when we have really a big crop of good seed, there 

 should be no difficulty. We have heard from Dr Greig to-day 

 that they have perhaps too many plants already. The scheme 

 _is to plant 250,000 acres in ten years, 25,000 acres a year, and 

 Scotland should have at least 10,000 acres of that." (Colonel 

 Fothringham — "100,000.") "Colonel Fothringham thinks we 

 will have one-half, I am afraid we won't get the half. Take it 

 at 10,000 acres, that means in the way of plants something like 

 35 or 40 millions. Now, I find in looking into the matter that 

 the public nurseries of Scotland at the present time are quite 

 capable of turning out considerably over that number, without 

 taking into consideration those raised in private nurseries and 

 what the Board of Agriculture is doing, so that really I think 

 there is no great difficulty. On the other hand, we find 

 professors recommending us to look to France for part of our 

 supplies. I should think it was very unwise to depend on 

 anything of that sort. Frenchmen will have enough to do 

 themselves. Why should we not rather help them and let 

 them draw on us for supplies? So it is entirely a question 

 of land, labour, and trees, and I think it is a simple matter. 

 I do not think we are so badly off for the men to carry it out. 

 Those who come in contact with Scottish foresters know that 

 they are as good foresters as any, and they have done up till 



