BELGIAN FORESTRY IN SOME OF ITS ASPECTS. 139 
XVIII. Belgian Forestry in some of its Aspects (with Photographs). 
By A. T. GILLaANDERs, Forester, Alnwick Castle, Northum- 
berland. 
The following notes, gleaned in the course of the Royal 
English Arboricultural Society’s Excursion to Belgium in August 
1905, have been put together in the hope that they may be of 
interest to the members of the Royal Scottish Arboricultural 
Society. The Excursion party, under the guidance of the 
President of the Society, Professor W. R. Fisher, left London 
on August 12th, and travelling va Harwich, Antwerp, and 
Liége, reached Spa, in the province of Liége, on the following 
afternoon. 
Compared with those of some other Continental countries, 
the forests of Belgium present a marked contrast. In France, 
for example, one finds mature woods in abundance, but there 
are few of these in Belgium. ‘The Belgian forests are as yet 
only in the making; in fact, they were only brought under 
public control by the Code Forestier in 1854. And when it is 
remembered that as a nation Belgium has enjoyed independence 
for only seventy-five years, that it is only ninety years since the 
battle of Waterloo was fought, and that many of the great 
. men who were associated with that battle were rewarded with 
woods which they sold, and thus denuded the country of most 
of its finest timber, this state of affairs is not at all surprising. 
But the Belgians are making up leeway, and under their 
capable forest administration are rapidly placing their forests 
on a more satisfactory footing. 
In Belgium the woods belong to the State, to Communes, 
public establishments, and private owners. ‘The State, of course, 
manages its own woods, and it also demands certain rights of 
control over communal woods; and though it does not interfere 
with private owners in the management of their woods, it gives 
them the advice of its forest officers, and the assistance of its 
forest guards when required, in order that all the woods, public 
and private alike, may be managed on the most approved prin- 
ciples, and thus become a great national asset. 
As regards the distribution of the woodlands amongst the 
various owners, the following statement, taken from the guide- 
