144 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



education, research, advisory work, minor forestry experiments, 

 and administrative expenses in England and Wales, which are 

 estimated to cost hereafter about ;£si°'^ ^ year. They are 

 now considering proposals from Scotland for similar purposes. 

 They are also in negotiation with certain municipal authorities 

 for the afiforestation of water catchment areas under their 

 control. 



( Thursday, i 7 /// April 1 9 1 3 — Treasury. ) 



From these figures it appears that Scotland, with a very much 

 larger area of land suitable for afforestation than either England 

 and Wales, or Ireland, has received in cash from the Develop- 

 ment Fund little more than one-tenth of the sum received by 

 England and less than one twenty-eighth of the sum received 

 by Ireland, while the sums sanctioned are, in round figures, 

 England and Wales, _;^i 8,000 ; Ireland, ;^28,ooo ; and Scotland, 

 ;^i 1,000. In the absence of a survey specially directed to 

 ascertaining the amount of afforestable land in Great Britain, it 

 is not possible to give even approximately accurate figures of 

 the amount for each of the three countries — but for the purpose 

 of comparing the above-mentioned sums, it may be confidently 

 said that Scotland possesses at least as much land on which 

 silviculture is likely to become the leading industry as is to be 

 found in England and Wales and Ireland put together. 



We earnestly hope that during the ensuing year the Board of 

 Agriculture will do its utmost to obtain for Scotland a grant for 

 afforestation in proportion to her silvicultural importance. We 

 are well aware that the Development Commissioners are unable 

 to advance money for any purpose until definite schemes have 

 been brought before them, and it is no doubt to the want of a 

 definite scheme that the great disparity in the advances to 

 Scotland as compared with England and Ireland is mainly due. 



We wish to urge on the Board of Agriculture the advisability 

 of its taking every possible step to encourage the inception of a 

 scheme of afforestation on a large scale. We have in our 

 minds a larger scheme than any one individual or corporation 

 would be able to undertake, we look forward to the establish- 

 ment of a Forest Centre on a really considerable scale, believing 

 that in no other way can afiforestation be made to give the best 

 results of which it is capable, both from a silvicultural and from 

 a social and economical point of view. 



