AFFORESTATION. 323 



woods, draining and fencing of woodlands, 

 valuation of timber, and the growing of 

 osiers. 



Up to July 1911 the Department of Agri- 

 culture for Ireland have acquired 7000 acres 

 for afforestation ; a small area compared to the 

 3,700,000 acres of state forests of Hungary ; 

 but still a step in the right direction. 



It appears from the Report that we can do 

 things in Ireland that we seem afraid to do in 

 Scotland and England. And yet Scotland 

 has 9,000,000 acres of waste land waiting 

 for development ! The real sportsman who 

 prefers the pleasures of the chase to the love 

 of killing as many heads of game within as 

 short a space of time as possible, has nothing 

 to fear from the reafforestation of the deer 

 forests. He will win a much finer trophy in 

 woodland areas than he would in open spaces. 



Why are we afraid to reafforest waste 

 lands of England ? The appeal to landowners 

 has proved futile. They will probably tell 

 you that their estates are already burdened 

 with debts and that they do not see the 

 advantage of sinking a large sum of money 

 to bring in a small return. This is natural 

 enough. Afforestation is obviously an enter- 



