BRITISH FORESTRY. I03 



and the financial position of landed proprietors in general to 

 realise that private enterprise in planting on any considerable 

 scale is out of the question under existing conditions. Very 

 few are the landowners who, even if they possess unemployed 

 capital, can afford to lock it up during the non-productive period 

 of tree-growth, and to pay tithe, rates, and taxes upon land 

 from which, perhaps, no return can be expected during the life- 

 time of the planter. If Parliament ever comes to recognise the 

 national importance of a steady supply of home-grown timber, it 

 will have to follow the example of certain foreign Legislatures in 

 lightening the burdens upon young woodland during the years 

 in which it yields nothing, and in encouraging planters by 

 supplying them with seeds and seedlings from State nurseries. 



Meanwhile, what woodland owners have to consider is the 

 best means of restoring to a productive state existing woods 

 which have been deteriorated by neglect or drastic over- 

 thinning. 



[Note. — We are unable to agree with the writer that trees 

 grown in close canopy enjoy any degree of immunity from 

 damage by storms by reason of their density. Their root-system 

 is restricted, while at the same time they are tall, and their centre 

 of gravity being high, the wind exercises a strong leverage on 

 them. Such trees withstand storms solely through the protection 

 afforded by the stunted marginal trees. Should these latter be 

 carried away, the former would topple over like ninepins, those 

 nearer the wind carrying their leeward neighbours with them in 

 their fall. Neither is the depth nor extent of the forest a pro- 

 tection against wind ; the deeper it is the greater the loss, 

 should the wind reach the interior. Thinned crops (of small 

 area), though yielding less valuable produce, stand at less risk 

 from storms. Hence a belt of forest on the windward side 

 should be thinned from an early age, the crowns of the outer 

 trees being lopped if necessary, so that they may stand as a 

 barrier in defence of the valuable close-canopied crop within. 

 For full information on this subject cf. Schlich's Manual, iv. 

 PP- 531-551-— Hon. Ed.] 



