16 BRITISH FORESTRY, PAST AND FUTURE 



shelter. Last year the former l distributed about a million 

 and a quarter, the latter 2 about three and three-quarter 

 million plants for this purpose. In Prussia and France the 

 State may contribute up to two-thirds of the initial cost of 

 private and communal afforestation if such work is con- 

 sidered to be specially desirable in the national interests. 

 In other countries (Russia and Hungary) premiums are 

 awarded for new plantations, a custom that was not un- 

 known in this country in the eighteenth and early nine- 

 teenth centuries. In all cases the success of financial or 

 material State assistance is greatly promoted by the pro- 

 vision of expert advice. 



While it is desirable to stimulate the extension of private 

 afforestation by all reasonable means, it would appear 

 probable that, at the best, the results will be quite insigni- 

 ficant as compared with the national necessities. A matter 

 of more pressing immediate urgency is the maintenance of 

 existing woodlands. These are at present being felled at an 

 unprecedented rate, and it is quite certain that, unless 

 legislative action intervenes, many denuded areas will never 

 be replanted. Timber speculators have in some cases bought 

 whole estates for the sake of the timber they carry, and, the 

 woods having been stripped, the land will be re-sold for 

 what it will fetch. Our wooded area is far too small for the 

 State to tolerate any shrinkage, and a statutory enactment 

 is called for to compel replanting except under quite ex- 

 ceptional circumstances. Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Bruns- 

 wick, Baden, Austria, Russia, and Switzerland already 

 possess such a law, and no landowner can complain if he is 

 called on to expend on replanting 5 to 10 per cent, of the 

 sum he receives from a sale of timber. 



All who have with an open mind approached the study 

 of national afforestation have arrived at the conclusion that 

 this is essentially a subj ect for direct State action. The first 

 necessity is the creation of a strong central authority with 



1 15th Annual Report, pp. 74-75. 



2 Report of the Director of Forestry, 1915, p. 34. 



