96 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



intending to plant after the war, such as France and America, are 

 also in a very bad condition with regard to their seed reserve, 

 and we cannot expect a great deal of seed from either of these 

 countries for some little time. I think probably it would be a 

 good thing to have a conference with the nurserymen in Scotland 

 who have done so well in' the past, and I personally, and I hope 

 Colonel Fothringham too, will have a meeting with them with a 

 view to endeavouring to increase the quantity of plants for next 

 year and for the following years. 



" Another matter that Dr Borthwick mentioned to me, and 

 which I would like to refer to here, is the necessity for clearing 

 up the ground which has been felled by Sir John Stirling 

 Maxwell's Department and private owners. The neglect of 

 that on the part of the Department has not probably been so 

 great as the neglect of it elsewhere, where the timber has been 

 taken by timber merchants who, in the rush for time, have not 

 had the opportunity of doing all that would be done probably 

 in the time of peace ; but it is essential that as much of the 

 brushwood as possible should be burned without delay, because 

 not only does it affect the area that has to be replanted, but it 

 creates a danger to all surrounding plantations. Sir John has 

 been good enough in that connection — and I would be ungrate- 

 ful if I did not thank him — to mention my association with the 

 Timber Supply Department in Scotland, and I can assure you 

 that all the statistics and all the information that will be pre- 

 pared, and that you will ultimately receive, has been entirely 

 the result of Sir John's own interest in forestry and in his 

 Department. I take absolutely no credit for it, because in the 

 early days of timber as a Department we had little time to 

 devote to statistics. 



"Now, one factor, and a pleasant one, in connection with 

 afforestation to-day, is that we are really going to do something 

 for the men who have gone away and who have risked not only 

 their lives but their livelihood from purely patriotic motives. 

 I mean there are hundreds, and probably thousands, of these 

 men who have come back and are coming back either in bad 

 health or in want of limbs, or in other ways disabled, who will 

 benefit by afforestation, and I think you will join with me, and 

 with every one connected with afforestation, in the hope that we 

 will really do something towards the improvement of the con- 

 dition of these men. They can do better work and can be more 



