136 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



will consider that he will lose some income from loss of rent for 

 the planted land, even though the land be poor and the rent 

 small. 



All these circumstances lead to the conclusion that if com- 

 mercial planting is to be seriously developed in this country, 

 some furthering scheme of finance must be devised. Govern- 

 ment loans at once suggest themselves, as they do in the case of 

 most well-intentioned schemes that cannot quite stand on their 

 own legs. If one regards this scheme as for the benefit of the 

 public, and especially for the benefit of the working classes in 

 developing a great industry which will employ labour in the 

 most healthful conditions, it seems a clear case for opening the 

 nation's purse. But in these days of dear money and national 

 economy, with heavy demands for educational and other public 

 purposes, Government money is extremely difficult to get, and, if 

 it is obtainable, it must be on terms that will strongly tempt the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer to loose the strings of the nation's 

 purse. Can such terms be proposed ? To answer that question 

 is the purpose of this paper. 



To tempt the Government successfully, two conditions must, if 

 possible, be attainable — (i) immediate and substantial public 

 advantage through the expenditure of the money provided ; and 

 (2) ultimate financial success, and the return of the money to the 

 nation's coffers with a sufficient interest or profit. My object is 

 to show how both these results can be attained, with reasonable 

 if not indeed absolute certainty, in the case of commercial plant- 

 ing at the public expense. 



The first condition should not be difficult to fulfil. Any com- 

 mercial planting scheme should be carried out gradually, the 

 area to be ultimately dealt with should be large, and there should 

 be regularity in the extent planted each year. This means steady 

 and continuous work for those employed in planting up the land 

 and managing the woods, over a long series of years, even though 

 the work may only cover a portion of each year. This latter 

 point I shall deal with immediately. Following the correct 

 modern system of silviculture, a definite plan or course of crop- 

 ping should be followed, under which the plantations will come 

 to maturity as far as possible in regular divisions. Under this 

 system the areas will be planted in regular and equal divisions, 

 and the intermediate thinning operations will likewise fall to be 

 carried out in equal and consecutive parts. Thus the forest 



