332 AWAKENING OF ENGLAND. 



What a contrast is the life of the wood- 

 lander, living where the scent of the earth is 

 good and where every sound echoes to harmony, 

 to that of the factory worker, living amid bad 

 sounds, bad smells, and engaged in uncreative 

 joyless labour. It has always seemed to me 

 that woodcraft is work which might appeal to 

 young middle-class men with some imagination, 

 who are willing to forego many of the luxuries 

 of life for the sake of interesting, though 

 strenuous work, as well as for the independence 

 they might win for themselves on a few acres 

 of land near the woods. 



There is no doubt that our Government 

 would be striking a valiant blow at the social 

 canker of unemployment had they the courage 

 to start a large and comprehensive scheme of 

 re-afforesting our waste lands. Even without 

 fresh legislation (as INIr. Arthur P. Grenfell 

 points out in his valuable pamphlet, " Affores- 

 tation and Unemployment ") the State might 

 to-day, under Section 20 of the Small Holdings 

 Act (1908), buy large tracts of rough woodland 

 for a small sum, letting parts of them to small 

 holders and afforesting the rest. 



The words of IMr. John Nesbit (the dis- 

 tinguished editor of 2Vie Forestei') bearing 



