8 BRITISH FORESTRY, PAST AND FUTURE 



existing woodlands, a curtailment which, as the accom- 

 panying table shows, has been general in the three main 

 divisions of the kingdom between 1905 and 1913 (1914 

 for Scotland). 



The proportion of woodland in the United Kingdom, 

 under 4 per cent., is lower than that of any European 

 country. Denmark and Holland come nearest with 7 to 

 8 per cent., then follow Belgium, France, and Spain with 

 17 to 18 per cent., Germany and Hungary with 25 to 

 27 per cent., Austria with 32 per cent., and Russia and 

 Sweden with 40 to 45 per cent. 



Under the Census of Production Act, 1906, a return was 

 called for of the production of timber in Great Britain, for 

 the 12 months ending June 1908. This showed sales, or 

 fellings for sale, of 14,845,000 cubic feet, of a value of 

 598,000, to which is to be added other classes of wood 

 (pit props, small thinnings, cord wood, &c.) sold or used 

 at home, bringing the estimated total up to 800,000. 

 For the same period 904,667 trees weighing 261,855 tons, 

 were returned as being felled in Ireland. Taking 30 cubic 

 feet, quarter-girth measure, to the ton, it would appear 

 that the normal annual timber output of the United King- 

 dom is about a million tons, of a pre-war value of a million 

 sterling. 



Since 1883, in decennial periods, our imports of c Wood 

 and Timber ' have been as follows : 



