TREE-PLANTING BY THE STATE 



thinnings from small woods all over the 

 country and that from field and hedgerow have 

 been valuable additions in meeting the wants 

 of the War Office during the past four years. 



The greater proportion of heavy elm, ash, 

 and a goodly supply of oak, has been from 

 field and hedgerow, while the whole of the 

 coniferous timber, including larch, spruce, and 

 Scotch pine, has been obtained from woods 

 and plantations. 



Beech and sweet chestnut have been sup- 

 plied from such well-known centres as the 

 Chiltern Hills, and from large private pro- 

 perties, as Welbeck and Woburn. It was 

 prophesied by some wiseacres at the beginning 

 of the war that our available supplies of 

 timber would be exhausted in two years. 

 Such, however, has not been the case, and at 

 our present rate of consumption it is calcu- 

 lated by those who have studied the question 

 that there is still sufficient left to last for 

 another two years. The afforesting, there- 

 fore, of at least a million acres of waste land 

 and replanting of the denuded areas will 



55 



