FORESTRY IN THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF SCOTLAND. 1 63 



under wood requires the services of at least one man for every 

 100 acres. In other words, it must employ ten men where the 

 large sheep farm employs but one, without including the 

 employment given by saw-mills or by any industries, such as 

 the manufacture of wood-pulp or paper, which may establish 

 themselves in the forest. If population be the criterion, there 

 is really no comparison between these two methods of 

 occupation. 



Please do not suppose that under a scheme of afforestation 

 every acre of the district afforested would be planted. We do 

 not want to emulate the backwoods of America. Any ground, 

 level and good enough for agriculture, would certainly be 

 reserved for that purpose. Every forest must have a resident 

 population on which it can draw for periodic labour- — felling, 

 roadmaking, carting, saw-milling, etc. This need can only be met 

 by the establishment of groups of small landholders — these small 

 landholders of whom we hear so much. I imagine that when 

 afforestation comes, as it must sooner or later if common-sense 

 prevails, the Highlands of Scotland will be very like the French 

 district of the Vosges, to which they bear a strong physical resem- 

 blance. Instead of a bare glen with a shepherd's or a stalker's 

 house every three or four miles, the hills and the side glens will 

 be wooded. In the main valley there will be more cultivation 

 than there is at present and many more houses, with here and 

 there larger villages whose industries depend on timber. But 

 you may say, " That is a charming picture, but why not have 

 the small landholders without the woods and let them graze 

 their sheep and cattle on the hills ? " I reply by another question, 

 to which I invite you to give an honest answer. Why does the 

 lot of the small landholder appear so idyllic while that of the 

 crofter is so uninviting? Is it not because the small landholder 

 belongs to a golden future, while the crofter is wrestling with the 

 hard facts of the present ? 



Parliament has made the crofter's tenure secure. It has 

 given him a fair rent. If the small landholder is to be an 

 economic being and not a mere creation of public charity, can 

 he be very different? We are not speaking now of rich soils 

 on the outskirts of large towns. There we may hope that the 

 small landholder has a future solid as well as glittering. He 

 may also thrive where he can wrest a harvest from the sea. 

 But in the bulk of the Highlands, where soils are poor and 



