l66 TRAXSACTIONS OF ROVAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of time if full use were made of existing organisations. There 

 would be no necessity to wait for the army of State foresters, 

 administrators, surveyors, etc. Once a Central Board had been 

 appointed each scheme proposed could be considered on its 

 own merits, and contracts made and work proceeded with 

 under the local forester. 



Apart from the reduction of the initial cost there would be a 

 considerable saving of expenditure in actually carrying out the 

 executive work. Local control would ensure efficient labour, 

 while past experience would secure cheap rates of planting and 

 suitable plants. 



Finally there is the question of game in its double capacity 

 of " revenue producer " and " tree destroyer." From both stand- 

 points the game question is more easily handled by tne landlord 

 acting with the State, than by the State alone. The keeper 

 in the permanent pay of the landlord will do better work at less 

 cost than the hired trapper, whose main object is but too 

 often to leave " stock " sufficient to ensure his services being 

 required another year. 



In maintaining the rents for game and thereby limiting 

 compensation claims, the advice of those who have made the 

 matter a life study cannot be altogether devoid of value. 



There is nothing the forester is more apt to forget than that 

 j£i per acre sacrificed in initial expenditure (compensation for 

 loss of rent, etc.) represents ^^lo, 12s. at the final felling, while 

 the sacrifice of a few trees by opening woods to deer say at twelve 

 instead of twenty years, or the partial injury to a few half acres 

 for pheasants' rises, represents no such great loss. 



Conclusion. 



State Afforestation has been for many years before the 

 public. It has its regular cycle of interest, enthusiasm, and 

 apathy. It has its recognised opponents who doggedly resist 

 its every move, and it has its votaries who are enthusiastic, often 

 it must be confessed by their very narrowness, only to destroy. 



There is reason to suppose that the present moment is one in 

 which the public might be persuaded to act — over-crowding 

 in the towns, unemployment, and the report of the Erosion 

 Commission have all tended to focus public opinion— the 

 opportunity if lost may not occur again. 



