74 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in the work, and that Committee is represented by your own 

 Society, by the Landowners' Co-operative Forestry Society, the 

 Factors' Society, and by the trade, and I hope the combination ot 

 wisdom we have got there will materially assist in this work. The 

 Secretary for Scotland's reply is, I think, a very reasonable one 

 under the circumstances, because, while the country is considering, 

 and the Government are seriously considering, what must be done 

 with the men who return from the war, the possibilities of small 

 holdings and afforestation really require very grave attention. 

 You must remember that everything connected with buildings, 

 everything connected with capital outlays upon such subjects as 

 holdings or farms, is at least 50, and in some cases 75 per cent. 

 higher than normal ; and besides that, even if the money 

 were forthcoming, and it was possible to do it, the men are 

 not here to build the houses and to plant the land, and 

 without the men you cannot make much progress with 

 any scheme of that kind. I think, from the point of view 

 of the Society, you should for the present direct your thoughts 

 to the various methods by which, later on, when the time comes, 

 you can make afforestation secure. In that connection I find, 

 for instance, that while home timber is being offered for sale very 

 largely, while it is sold at a good price, and while the merchant 

 is hurrying it into the mills and into the pits, that he is not 

 paying attention to the one thing of importance, and that is, the 

 proper grading of the timber. Timber in the home trade is 

 looked upon, I am afraid, too much as a mere passing subject, 

 and the sooner it is into the mill and out of it, the better every- 

 body is pleased ; but that is not the way to work. 



"A forester of very considerable experience, whom I consulted the 

 other day on this matter, said he had been attempting to grade home 

 timber as it came forward, in the same manner as timber which 

 comes from abroad is graded. The result was that only from 2 to 

 5 per cent, of a good lot was up to first Archangel, only from 5 to 20 

 was up to second Archangel, 20 to 70 was equal to third Archangel, 

 and the rest was useless. Now there is a tremendous wastage here. 

 When we are manufacturing and endeavouring to put our timber 

 to the best use, we really should try to make as good a 

 reputation for it as possible, and not to hurry it through the 

 mill into the market without trying, at all events, to give it the 

 same chance as the stuff that comes from abroad. 



" In connection with the scarcity of pit-wood, it occurs to me to 



