RELATION TO FARM WORK 115 



young trees to be subsequently planted out to form 

 the woods. 



The enunciation of this definition of the class of 

 land required by the forester at once removes the 

 suspicion of the agriculturist that the former is 

 aiming at alienating, for forestry purposes, a part 

 of the lands whose correct position in the economy 

 of the country falls within the purview of the agri- 

 cultural industry. 



But commercial forestry does more than this. It 

 affords direct assistance to the farmer in helping 

 him to maintain an efficient labour staff. The farmer 

 employs more labour, when the raising of crops is 

 the chief object, than is required in forestry. In 

 the case of the sheep farm the reverse is the case. 

 Farm work and forestry proper dovetail with one 

 another in a most satisfactory manner for both 

 industries, and illustrate d merveille the interdepend- 

 ence of the two in those parts of the country in 

 which forestry, owing to the poor quality of the soil, 

 forms the staple industry. In the winter season 

 farm work is at its slackest. There is little to be 

 done for the part of the labour which may be termed 

 the migrant part, and therefore but small wages can 

 be earned. This reacts both on the farmer and the 

 labourer. The farmer cannot afford to pay whole- 

 time wages to a portion of his staff for whom he 

 cannot find full employment ; the latter, finding it 

 impossible to live and maintain a family in default 

 of an adequate wage throughout the year, leaves 

 the country for the town or industrial centres, or 

 emigrates, During the past few decades before the 



