12 BRITISH FORESTRY, PAST AND FUTURE 



conclusion that nine million acres could, with advantage, 

 be afforested, while Sir John Stirling Maxwell thinks that 

 six million acres more fitly represents the case. 1 Of this, 

 at least, there can be no doubt that our wooded area of 

 some three million acres could with advantage be doubled, 

 which would bring our percentage of forest land up to 

 8 per cent., and place us on a level with Denmark and 

 Holland, though still leaving us far behind other European 

 countries. With improved management an aggregate of 

 six million acres should give us an annual increment of 

 about six million tons of timber, which, although far short 

 of our requirements, is a great advance on the million tons 

 or so that we at present annually produce. When that 

 stage has been reached it will be time enough to consider 

 the question of further extension. 



A question that at once occurs, in considering suggestions 

 for extended afforestation, is the effect it would have on 

 the food supply. While, in a sense, food is more vital than 

 timber, the experiences of the past two years have shown 

 that much is gained by limiting imports to concentrated 

 substances, such as meat, and producing bulky materials, 

 like timber, at home. The land which it is suggested should 

 be afforested contributes only meat to the food supplies of 

 the nation. It is grazed by mountain breeds of sheep, of 

 which the best pastoral farms never carry more than one to 

 the acre, and most of them much less. Much of it is 

 rented at 3d. and 4<d. per acre, and it is only in rare instances 

 that the rent exceeds %s. Many experiments have been 

 carried out in England and Scotland during the past twenty 

 years, which had for their object the determination of the 

 amount of meat that sheep, grazing poor pasture, can pro- 

 duce in the course of a year. It would appear from these 

 experiments that 15 Ib. per acre per annum of mutton may 

 be taken as a fair estimate for this class of land, to which has 

 to be added 3 or 4 Ib. of wool. Where the land is under deer 

 the meat produced is practically negligible. The afforesta- 



1 The Times, June 20 and 26, 1910. 



