THE NEW FORESTRY. 2O? 



was satisfied that very few estate agents had a capable know- 

 ledge of forestry. He thought he could count all the 

 exceptions he had ever come across " upon his finger-ends." 

 The evidence of another witness illustrated the vagaries to 

 which a systemless forestry lends itself, and the extravagant 

 schemes to which owners of woods may be committed by their 

 agents. According to the Blue Book, this witness described 

 himself as having " had more practical experience than most 

 men," as a landscape gardener, and as having at one time had 

 the control of some of the most extensive woods in England, 

 with foresters under him, whom he taught. His system 

 of planting forest trees generally was to prepare the trees in 

 a nursery till they were at least four or five feet high, seven or 

 eight years of age, and plant them out finally twelve feet 

 apart, so that they would stand without thinning till they 

 became adult trees. After the trees were established, pines 

 for example, he proposed to go over the plantations every two 

 or three years and pinch in the side shoots in order to produce 

 straight trees like the columnar cypress, we presume. The 

 labour involved in growing timber-trees in this way struck the 

 examiners, as well it might. The cost of the trees of the 

 above age and size, in the first instance, would probably equal 

 or exceed the value of the ultimate crop of timber, to say 

 nothing of rents, rates, taxes, capital invested, and incidental 

 expenses. Yet the scheme was seriously proposed by one 

 who has been much employed by owners of estates in planting. 

 A knowledge of forestry conducted on rational principles 

 would soon dispose of foresters of this stamp, but that they 

 should exist is significant. A well-known owner of woods 

 in Scotland, who gave evidence before the Forestry Com- 

 mittee, lamented the differences of opinion that existed 

 between foresters, as illustrated by discussion amongst them, 

 but the foregoing views on the subject are probably unique. 



Continental forestry schools have been pointed to as 

 examples to be copied in this country, but there is hardly any 

 parallel between Continental and British forestry, and the 

 same arguments do not apply in both cases. It is the extent 

 and importance of the forests, the system of forestry adopted, 

 and the prospect of desirable posts and promotion held out 

 to foresters that have brought the schools into existence on 

 the Continent, and made a good forestry education worth 

 trying for, conditions that hardly exist in this country. If we 

 consider the vastly greater extent of the German forests, for 

 example, compared to our own, that the proportion of land 



