THE NEW FORESTRY. 79 



That a difference in the rainfall in different parts of these 

 Islands, amounting to about sixty inches annually, or six 

 thousand tons to the acre, implies a corresponding difference 

 in the amount of sunshine, exerting, in its turn, a corresponding 

 effect upon vegetation, goes without saying ; while the quantity 

 of rain should also to a large extent determine the extent of 

 the drainage of* woodlands if any, the species to be planted, 

 and the season of planting. Soils which in a dry climate 

 might not need draining, might, under a heavy rainfall, be 

 water-logged during a good portion of the year. Some species 

 of trees, like the spruce, might be quite unsuitable for planting 

 where the rainfall was light or the soil dry, and vice versa, 

 while nearly all the pinus family and broad-leaved species, 

 except the birch, alder, and mountain ash, would probably 

 succeed best where the rainfall was lightest and the sunshine 

 more constant. As regards planting, where the rainfall is 

 regular and sufficient, operations might be carried on in either 

 autumn or spring, but in those parts of England where the 

 rainfall is light, we are assured, by those able to judge, that 

 spring-planting is most unsafe because of the risk of drought 

 in April, May, or June, in which case the trees perish. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Buchan, of the Scottish Meteorological Society, 

 a rainfall exceeding 40 inches might be considered a wet 

 climate, and the heaviest rainfall follows the mountain ridges. 



SECTION III. VALUE OF THE LAND : PLANTING AS 

 AN INVESTMENT. 



On this point it may be stated that on private estates in 

 this country it is risky planting, for profit, land that already 

 yields a fair rent for any other purpose ; but it is difficult to- 

 set any precise limit to the value that might not be exceeded 

 by the production of timber, so much depends on culture and 

 management which may involve a difference of thousands 

 of cubic feet to the acre. There is scarcely any data on the 

 subject in British forestry records that is thoroughly reliable, 

 but it is pretty generally agreed amongst experienced men 

 that it would pay to grow timber on land, other conditions 

 being favourable, the rental value per acre of which did not 

 exceed ten shillings. An agricultural rent above this figure, 

 paid annually, and the accumulated interest on the same calcu- 

 lated for the period that a crop of timber would occupy the 

 ground, would be likely to exceed the value of the latter in the 



