78 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The position at present in this country, indeed, demands 

 immediate attention. As just stated we have large areas of 

 recently deforested lands, littered with debris. The exposed soil 

 is deteriorating and becoming invaded with undesirable weed 

 growth, and the debris is a hot-bed for the increase of injurious 

 pests. We cannot afford to wait until the debris has rotted 

 away and become harmless, because the soil is not only mean- 

 time lying idle, but actually deteriorating in value, and valuable 

 time would be lost in the reconstruction work of restoring an 

 adequate reserve of timber within the country. 



Forest protection can provide the means of overcoming this 

 phase of forest danger, if scientific treatment is applied in a 

 judicious and practical manner. Damage in the earliest stages 

 in the life of a plantation represents loss of time, and also of a 

 certain amount of the capital involved in the initial cost of 

 planting, which may be bad enough, but damage to a forest 

 approaching maturity is a much more serious thing, and neglect 

 to adopt protective measures in the earlier stages of forest 

 growth may and often does lead to unpreventible catastrophies 

 when the forest should be approaching maximum value. 



It must be kept in mind that the cost of adopting preventive 

 measures is not great in any case, and in many instances it may 

 be nil, while the remedy or cure necessitated by neglect of 

 prevention is in all cases costly and at best attended with serious 

 loss and sacrifice of growing stock. 



The forest is worth protection not only on account of the 

 direct returns it may give, but also on account of its many-sided 

 indirect benefits, such as shelter and general climatic ameliora- 

 tion, purification and conservation of water in reservoir catch- 

 ment areas, and preventing loss by soil erosion and shifting 

 sands. The kind of forest known as " Protection forest " can be 

 of great national value, but in order to secure its benefits man 

 must protect the forest. Summing up then, forest protection 

 means, first, prevention of financial loss ; second, it will enhance 

 all the indirect benefits the forest can bestow; third, it will 

 secure an adequate supply of healthy growing timber within the 

 country, and recent experiences have shown that this is im- 

 perative for national protection. 



A. W. B. 



