workmen's dwellings and tenure of holdings. 33 



60,000 acres of plantable ground, only 900 acres of old arable 

 land are scheduled in the Highlands and Islands Report of 

 1892 as being land which can be profitably cultivated. 



Even allowing — (a) that, with employment guaranteed, crofts 

 can be " lotted " on smaller areas of arable land than were 

 taken into account in the Commissioners' Report, and can still 

 constitute economic holdings ; and (d) that through the shelter 

 afforded by afforestation, the altitude at which crops can be 

 grown to profit may eventually be raised ; it is evident that 

 the arable land available for forest workers in the Glen Mor 

 area is strictly limited in extent. 



No exact figure has been given as the proportion of the 

 required forest labour which the present inhabitants of the 

 Glen Mor district would provide, but, in Chapter VII., it is 

 shown that the work of felling the existing woods and manipu- 

 lating the timber should absorb the existing labour supply. 



Method of Increasing the Labour Supply. 



There are many difi^erent systems of land tenure under which 

 the workers on afforested land might be settled on the soil. 

 The system put forward below does not claim to be the best 

 or the only solution of the problem, but rather to be one which 

 is specially suited to Glen Mor, and, not improbably, to the 

 whole Highland area. 



It will be readily agreed — 



1. That it is advisable to create a resident population 



whose interest — at all events for the first generation 

 — will be chiefly connected with forestry. 



2. That the families so established should have sufficient 



land to keep them in food, including milk, and to 

 give them work during the short periods when they 

 are not required for forest labour. 



3. That the tenure should be of such a kind as to make 



them as soon as possible an independent community, 

 tied by habit and interest, rather than by compulsion, 

 to forest employment. 



4. That the crofter class, accustomed to the rigours of 



the climate, with some knowledge of building and 

 outdoor employment, and a considerable ability for 

 farming under adverse circumstances, would be the 

 class most suited for forest work. 



VOL. XXV. c 



