I So TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



22. The Royal Commission on Afforestation : their 

 German and English Critics and remarks 

 thereon. 



By Bert. Ribbentrop, C. I.E. 



The Royal Commissioners held fifty sittings, examined eighty 

 witnesses, and have recommended a truly gigantic plan. By 

 it they have once more convincingly brought before the public 

 the vital importance of large and conservatively managed forests, 

 and their beneficial effect on the economic development of 

 any country, and have proved that the creation of such forests 

 in these Islands must be made a national undertaking. . In 

 Germany this result is fully recognised and highly praised. 



The form of the Report (evidently both of the two parts are 

 referred to) is somewhat severely handled by the German 

 critic Dr Moeller, who condemns it as vague, badly arranged, 

 fatiguing on account of its numerous repetitions, and generally 

 purposeless. He evidently does not appreciate the drift of 

 the Commissioners, and excuses the unnecessary elaboration 

 of the Report by the supposition that it was meant for an 

 assembly more or less ignorant of forestry, as understood in 

 Germany, and in which an interest in real silviculture had still 

 to be awakened ; for, he continues, " with as yet few but in- 

 creasing exceptions, the Briton though an excellent arbori- 

 culturist is not a forester." Dr Moeller, in comparing the 

 existing state of forest conditions in Germany and England, 

 writes : " In Germany a large proportion of the original natural 

 forests was, owing to the political and economic development 

 of the country, saved from destruction, and was in most 

 instances brought under conservative management before the 

 forest soil had deteriorated. On considerable, though com- 

 paratively small areas, the forests were destroyed and the 

 character of the forest soil was lost, leaving no option but 

 reafforestation, for though a considerable percentage of the 

 country is forest-clad, a further large increase in the forest 

 area is recognised to be a matter of national importance. 

 England has lost its compact forest areas and the Commissioners 

 Report conclusively shows that, under existing circumstances, an 

 amelioration on a sufficiently large scale cannot be expected, 

 unless the State intervenes." " They now," the critic con- 



