2 2 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



met by allowing them the grant of £2 per acre, with a loan of 

 ,-£3, 1 os. to cover the balance of the expenditure, as suggested 

 in the report. I have given these instances merely for the 

 purpose of showing that proprietors have been giving careful 

 consideration to the proposals outlined in the Forestry Sub- 

 Committee's report, and that they are prepared to go ahead as 

 energetically as circumstances permit. The proprietors to whom 

 my remarks apply are chiefly the owners of large estates with 

 areas of woodlands sufficiently large to require the services of 

 a skilled forester, but there are also throughout the North of 

 Scotland numerous small estates with woods not exceeding 

 200 to 300 acres. On such estates no skilled forester is, as a 

 rule, employed, and the proprietor and the estate workmen are 

 often very ignorant as to how the woods should be dealt with. 

 During the last two or three years I have had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of forming an opinion as to the needs and requirements 

 of small estates. My services have been constantly in request 

 with small proprietors wishing to have advice as to how the 

 woods should be marketed, and such invitations are generally 

 followed by requests for advice regarding replanting. Most of 

 the smaller proprietors would be eager and willing to participate 

 in the work of afforestation." 



Mr Acland. — "Are they mainly people who have sold timber 

 during the war?" 



Mr Leslie. — " Yes. As an illustration of what is taking place 

 even now, I might say that during the last few weeks I have 

 had on an average two or three requests per week from small 

 proprietors for advice as to how to market their wood?. The 

 timber would probably be worth on the average from ^3000 

 to ^7000 on these estates. Unfortunately the staff of Advisory 

 Officers is at present too small, and the requirements of these 

 small proprietors cannot be studied as much as they should be, 

 but it is urgently necessary that there should be some method 

 found of giving them all the assistance they desire. The con- 

 tribution which could be made by small estates to our timber 

 resources might in the aggregate be very considerable, and it 

 is often the case that the afforestable land on small estates is 

 suitable for growing timber of very high quality. 



" I have also been making inquiries with a view to ascertain- 

 ing whether proprietors might be willing to go in for the proceeds- 



