Io6 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



with the importation of large quantities of foreign timber. The 

 neglect of the industry increased when the import duty was 

 taken off colonial timber in 1846 : and timber-growing for the 

 supply of the British market finally almost ceased with the 

 removal of the import duty from foreign timber in 1866. Thus 

 an industry which had for centuries been an important rural one 

 became unprofitable, and most of the woodlands from that time 

 came to be looked upon as game coverts only. 



A revival of interest in the matter of British grown timber has 

 recently set in with the rapid exhaustion of cheap timber through- 

 out the world, the more accessible forests having been nearly cut 

 out ; whilst other nations, such as America and Germany, now 

 compete with Britain in importing timber, with the consequent 

 result of a great rise in prices all round. 



Commenting upon the importance of afforestation in 

 Britain, the author quotes the import figures for 1906 and 1907, 

 in which years our gross imports of wood, timber, woodpulp and 

 manufactured woodpulp amounted in value to ;^37,378,ooo, 

 whilst the total for wood and timber alone was over ^^29, 013, 000. 

 And but little of this is re-exported ! The figures speak for 

 themselves. 



The author then considers the well-known climatic and physi- 

 cal effects of large compact blocks of woods, afterwards briefly 

 glancing at their economic uses in providing work for a rural 

 population at times when other work is scarce. He points out 

 that with the introduction of afforestation into this country large 

 sums of money now going abroad would remain to be circulated 

 amongst our own {)opulation, and that, with large blocks of 

 forest managed on commercial lines, local industries would arise 

 which would provide labour for a numerous and increasing body 

 of workers, over and above those actually employed in tending 

 the woods themselves. 



After discussing the qualities and physical properties of soil 

 and the influence of climate on tree-growth, the author deals 

 with the silvicultural characteristics of the trees, following this 

 by an account of the habits of growth and forms of woodland 

 crops. 



Chapter II. is devoted to the formation, tending and renewal 

 of woods. This subject is treated in the usual manner — questions 

 of forming plantations, draining and soil preparation, nursery 

 work, different methods of putting out transplants and their 



