36 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



that, although it appears that the Government in future are 

 going to take a very large part in the planting of wood in this 

 country, the example of France will be followed, and that these 

 woods will be exploited by the timber trade. It is the business 

 of the State in that country to keep a very strict hold upon the 

 sales, but the conversion of the wood lies entirely with the trade. 

 It is the wisest course, and I should like to say that nothing in 

 my experience in the Timber Supply Department leads me to 

 believe the Government would be the best agent for the manu- 

 facture of timber. 



"Passing from that, the whole question we are considering 

 ultimately depends upon how far home-grown timber really is 

 required. Various views are expressed on the question of our 

 national supplies. The Government appears to have taken the 

 view at last that these supplies are precarious — our supplies from 

 abroad — and that some steps must be taken to supplement them 

 at home. I mention this subject because the whole question of 

 home-grown timber is apt to be prejudiced by very loose state- 

 ments that are made from time to time as to the supplies of 

 timber which the world possesses. These supplies are very 

 large when you can fasten your attention on the untouched 

 woods, but they become very inadequate when you look a little 

 farther into the history of the world's woods and the rate at 

 which they are being exploited. At this moment I would have 

 thought it was almost enough to bear in mind that up to the 

 time of the war this country was drawing half of its whole 

 supplies of imported timber from one country — Russia — and to 

 point to the state of that country at the present moment. 



"But I think perhaps the condition of things would be better 

 brought home to one by the experience of some other countries. 

 Take, for instance, the United States of America. The United 

 States, with a very large area of woods, has been for many years 

 in great anxiety about its timber supplies, and it has taken the 

 trouble, which this country has never taken, to find out what 

 supplies the world contains. The woods of the United States 

 have been reduced from what was reckoned to be 8,000,000,000 

 acres, when the country was first settled by white men, down 

 to about 5,000,000,000 acres. Meanwhile the consumption of 

 wood in the United States has risen to the extraordinary figure 

 of 260 cubic feet per head per annum, largely due to the fact 

 that the people live in wooden houses, a fact which every 



