THE NEW FORESTRY. 35 



might make their woods more remunerative were greater 

 attention paid to the selection of trees suitable to different soils 

 and to more skilful management after the trees are planted." 

 Some hike-warm supporters of the Continental system, while 

 admitting that our home forestry is more or less a commercial 

 failure, suggest that owners of estates will object because the 

 Continental system makes no provision for ornamental 

 features, has no respect for sentiment, and that hence, British 

 proprietors, rather than trust their woods to the new forester, 

 will prefer to go on in the old way, with all its imperfections. 

 This is a narrow and mistaken view that we feel sure not many 

 entertain. As regards ornamental planting, the Continental 

 system does not prohibit the laying out of woods or forests 

 in an ornamental manner, so far as their distribution is con- 

 cerned. It does certainly advocate the planting of poor waste 

 lands in preference to lands that can be more profitably 

 devoted to other purposes ; but the system can be carried out 

 on good lands, in the ornamental style, just as easily as on 

 bad ones, by those who are so disposed. Better methods of 

 planting, rotation, and the production of trees of the right 

 shape and quality, are surely no hindrance to ornamental 

 planting, and can mean no disrespect to sentiment. German 

 forests, many of them, are scenes of sylvan beauty, established 

 on lands which, without the forests, would often resemble those 

 dreary wastes of moorland and bog so common in England. 

 If a slice of a German forest could be transferred to an English 

 park, it could not be distinguished from an ornamental English 

 plantation at a distance, but a close examination would show 

 that, unlike the other, it had been managed in a superior way, 

 and had a commercial as well as an ornamental value. 



Apart from these considerations, the number and extent of 

 the timber sales on private estates all over the country show 

 that the commercial element does enter largely into the 

 wood management on estates. If there be any lack of interest 

 in this direction, it is due, as a rule, to the impression created 

 among proprietors, by past mismanagement, that things are 

 hopeless and cannot be altered. Reverse this impression and 

 a change will soon be noticeable. It is not long-deferred 

 returns from planting that influences proprietors so much as 

 the doubt of there ever being any returns at all. When the 

 larch was first introduced, and its value as a timber tree was 

 realised, almost all owners of estates planted it extensively, 

 even small freeholders, just as the Dutch are planting Scotch 

 fir now on their allotments, although it was seldom expected 



