THE NEW FORESTRY. 85 



" I do not know of any theory that is better sustained by 

 facts than that timber trees can be grown to good size on soils 

 chemically poor from an agricultural point of view, because 

 they need a much smaller quantity of the usual plant-food 

 derived from the soil than farm and garden crops do. When I 

 first studied analysts' tables on this subject, I confess it was a 

 kind of revelation to me, for it explained much that had 

 before puzzled me, viz., why great trees should grow out of 

 soils in which, according to our gardening and farming ideas of 

 plant culture, they ought to starve. Schlich's conclusions on 

 this subject, from Ebermayer's tables, briefly summarised, are 

 that the substances required by forest trees are qualitatively 

 the same as those required by field crops, but quantitatively so 

 much less that almost any soil can furnish a sufficient quantity 

 of mineral substances for the production of trees, provided the 

 leaf-mould accumulating from the fallen leaves is not removed. 

 And, further, that conifers require the least amount of such 

 substances of any known plants." 



SECTION V. ACCESSIBILITY AND PROXIMITY TO A 

 MARKET. 



Generally speaking, every mile further the wood is from 

 the consumer the less the timber is worth to the owner, till a 

 limit may be reached where the margin of profit may disap- 

 pear altogether. This applies more particularly to estates 

 where the woods are not very extensive, nor the supply 

 sufficient to make it worth the consumers' while to put down 

 plant to convert the timber on the spot. It might be different 

 in the case of large areas maintained by the State, and that 

 would probably create permanent work and industries in the 

 woods, as in Continental forests which have a population of 

 their own. Good roads and forest paths and proximity to 

 railways are of course an immense advantage in all cases, and 

 any facilities that reduce the cost of haulage increase the value 

 of the crop to the owner. We have often known these con- 

 ditions to affect the price of timber at a sale to the extent of 

 from five to twenty per cent, one way or the other ; and they 

 must always affect the prospects of planting on private estates. 

 Much has been said about planting waste lands in the High- 

 lands of Scotland ; but instances are on record there in which 

 the very best timber has been worthless to the owner because 



