94 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



needs of the industry ; and there must be a sufficient supply 

 of labour of all grades of skill working under a capable 

 administration. 



The first essential was the land, and in order to arrive at an 

 estimate of our potential resources in land it would be necessary 

 to take account of the areas of land at present classified as 

 rough grazing, or devoted to sport but better adapted for 

 afforestation, which could be roughly estimated to be about 

 1,000,000 acres in extent, as well as of the areas of land 

 already under forest. A number of years before the war the 

 area under forest in Scotland was stated in the Board of 

 Agriculture returns to be about 900,000 acres, but the forests 

 were not more than 30 per cent, as productive as they would 

 have been under good management, and the reason for this 

 was chiefly that the management had not been intensive enough. 

 When the returns from an enterprise did not accrue until 

 after 70 or 80 years it was natural that owners should 

 endeavour to keep down expenditure, and this was often done 

 to an extent which impaired the productivity of the woods. In 

 order to improve the productivity of our existing forests, and to 

 increase the area under timber to a material extent, funds would 

 have to be made available for promoting schemes of forestry, 

 and the State was the only body which could be expected to 

 furnish money on a large enough scale for practicable purposes. 

 This was now clearly recognised by Parliament and the com- 

 munity at large, and by the Forestry Act a sum of at least 

 ^3,000,000 was earmarked for forestry purposes during the 

 next 10 years. 



Mr Leslie explained the Forestry Act at some length, and 

 emphasised the fact that a considerable number of junior 

 forest officers, skilled foresters and woodmen would be 

 required for the carrying out of the planting schemes which 

 were contemplated by the Reconstruction Sub-Committee in 

 Forestry, on whose recommendations the Act was chiefly 

 based. The problem of getting the right kind of foresters 

 and a supply of labour would take some time before it could 

 be satisfactorily solved. It was the intention of the Com- 

 missioners to set up a number of woodmen's schools in forest 

 districts throughout the country, where apprentice foresters could 

 receive instruction in practical forestry. 



The number of men engaged in forestry would in time be 



