76 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY, 



into the forestry side of his department. We all know that 

 he shares our aims and wishes. In his official capacity he is 

 not in a position of perfect freedom, but the work he is doing 

 will do a great deal to realise our aims. In regard to one matter, 

 the question of afforestation, which Mr Sutherland rather depre- 

 cates our urging at the present, I would like to say this. It is 

 quite true that you could not defend the use of afforestation as 

 a mere means of settling soldiers on the land after the war. It 

 would be a very cumbrous way of doing it, and a very expensive 

 one, and we shall never urge afforestation from that point of view 

 alone. We rather take the view that a country which has been 

 surprised with wholly inadequate supplies of timber would be 

 very foolish indeed, if it did not take immediate steps to put 

 itself right in that respect. And therefore we feel that if, as 

 some people suppose, the period after the war does afford a good 

 opportunity of settling people on the land, this need of larger 

 forests should be borne in mind when arrangements are being 

 made. The most we would ask now would be that proper areas 

 should be marked down, and preliminary arrangements made, so 

 that at short notice this work can be undertaken after the con- 

 clusion of peace. As to building, no one now would think of 

 such a thing. One would rather expect that forests would begin 

 to be planted under conditions more or less temporary, and 

 temporary huts or buildings used for a period of years. But 

 we hope that there would be gradually developed a permanent 

 resident population." 



Mr H. M. Cadell of Grange said there would, no doubt, be 

 plenty of wooden huts available after the war, and that such 

 huts might be purchased at a very small cost, and until more 

 permanent houses could be provided, these would serve the 

 purpose of settlers on the land. As regards denuded woodland 

 areas, the important thing is to get the best kinds of trees 

 planted, Mr Cadell mentioned that black Italian poplar, planted 

 twenty-seven years ago by him, had grown extremely well, some 

 specimens having attained a girth of 36 inches. Black poplar 

 is very easily grown, and it deserved to be more extensively 

 planted in future. In ten years' time a large proportion of the 

 pit-wood required by the mines could be grown in the country. 



Mr Adam Spiers, Edinburgh, said the great trouble with the 

 timber merchant at present is the inadequate supply of men, 

 which meant that the mills are not being worked to the full 



