AFFORESTATION IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 151 



Forestry Committee gave a different, and a far more common- 

 sense recommendation in the following words :— 



For the . . . larger landed proprietor, the inducement must be of a 

 nature that would relieve him to some extent from the immediate lock-up of 

 capital incurred in planting operations, and at the same time provide a 

 guarantee that the outlay would prove, so far as the holding is concerned, a 

 sound investment. Easy loans, with deferred interest, absolute security of 

 tenure in respect of the lands coming under the scheme, and free advice in all 

 branches of forestry, are the chief means which seem to us best calculated to 

 meet this case. 



When it seems to suit their purposes, the Commission quote 

 German and French forestry statistics, though they ignore other 

 very relevant data. In both France and Germany the great 

 bulk of the woodlands is in private or corporate ownership : — 



France. Germany. 



Acres. Acres. 



Woodland area, . . . 23,400,000 34,730,000 



Percentage of woodlands owned by : — 



State and Crown, .... 



Private landowners. 



Church lands and other endowments, 



municipalities, village communals, 



and corporations, . . . 22^ igh 



Although both of these countries are devoting large sums 

 annually to the acquisition and planting of waste lands, yet 

 private planting is encouraged, and compulsory acquisition is 

 only resorted to in extreme cases {e.g., mountain-planting in the 

 Pyrenees) ; and even then the planted land can be subsequently 

 reacquired by the original owner at its actual cost after the 

 reboisemeni has been carried out. Why should not reasonable 

 endeavours be made in this direction in Great Britain? The 

 Irish Forestry Committee's Report of April 1908, is much more 

 common sense in this respect when it advocates the planting of 

 200,000 acres of State forests in large blocks, and of 500,000 

 acres by County Councils and private landowners in smaller 

 blocks. And, further, the class of land acquired for planting 

 should certainly not be that having a freehold value anything 

 like so high as jQd, 13s. 4d. an acre, for many hundred 

 thousands of acres can easily be acquired at about ^1 an 



