DEVELOPMENT OF FORESTRY IN ENGLAND. I 53 



wise, it may be possible to recruit 'working foremen' and 

 ' head foresters ' from the ' woodman ' class. ^ 



" 5. We consider that the success of the management of the 

 woods on estates depends very largely upon the practical 

 efficiency of the working foreman or head forester employed. 



" Owners of large woods are at present little disposed to employ 

 permanently men who have received a technical training in 

 forestry at one of the higher schools, and it must be assumed 

 that in the near future at least the working foreman or head 

 forester will remain the responsible person in charge. We 

 understand that the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries are 

 arranging that owners of woodlands shall be supplied with the 

 best technical advice obtainable, but we feel, nevertheless, that 

 the proper utilisation of such advice depends chiefly on the 

 efficiency of the man in actual charge. 



"6. At the present time the knowledge of forest management 

 which those in charge possess cannot always be considered 

 satisfactory. This arises from a number of causes, of which 

 we consider that the chief are — 



" {(i) The low scale of pay attaching to the positions. 



" It is not at all uncommon to find the details of manage- 

 ment affecting many thousands of pounds' worth of growing 

 timber entrusted to men receiving a \vage but little above that 

 of a labourer. There is consequently little to attract able men 

 and no incentive towards improvement. 



" (l>) The lack of facilities for receiving instruction. 



" Prior to the establishment of the Forest of Dean School 

 in 1904, and later of the Chopwell Woods course, there 

 were no organised schools for woodmen, and forestry instruction 

 among this class consisted, with the exception of some local 

 lecturers, chiefly in the accumulation of practical experience, 

 the reading of periodicals devoted to arboriculture, and the 

 stimulus of essay competitions promoted by the two 

 arboricultural societies in Great Britain. 



" 7. At the present time the two establishments in the 

 Forest of Dean and Chopwell Woods provide facilities for 

 completing the training of about 14 men annually, and of these 



^ The number of persons in England and Wales returned as woodmen in tlie 

 census of 1901 was 12,035, while the area of woodland in 1908 was 1,907,000 

 acres. No distinction is made in the census between the three classes referred 

 to in paragraphs 2 and 4. 



VOL. XXVIL PART II. L 



