[BRITISH FORESTRY, PAST AND FUTURE 7 



(7) amendment of the law affecting the taxation of wood- 

 lands to estate and succession duties. Some action has 

 been taken only in respect of Nos. 2, 5, and 7. 



In 1912 the President of the Board of Agriculture and 

 Fisheries appointed an Advisory Committee in regard to 

 (1) a forest survey, (2) experiments in silviculture and 

 forestal demonstration areas, and (3) the instruction of 

 woodmen. The Committee reported in the autumn of the 

 same year, recommending a survey of seven selected dis- 

 tricts of England, the creation of experimental forests of 

 not less than 5,000 acres each in these seven districts, the 

 creation of a demonstration forest, the inauguration of 

 laboratory research and forestry experiments, and pro- 

 vision for the training of skilled woodmen. As a result 

 the demonstration forest (Forest of Dean) has been 

 started, laboratory research has been set a-going at certain 

 centres, and a beginning has been made with the limited 

 survey. 



These many official inquiries, the outcome of outside 

 pressure, show unmistakably that there exists in this 

 country a strong body of public opinion in favour of the 

 improvement of existing woodlands, and the extension of 

 afforestation. Those who have been in close touch with 

 the subject during the past twenty-five years gladly admit 

 that in certain quarters a considerable improvement has 

 been effected in the management of private woodlands. 

 Certain owners of extensive woodlands have fully realized 

 the unsatisfactory conditions that have hitherto prevailed 

 and have set themselves with intelligent enthusiasm to 

 reform their systems of management. Foresters have 

 learned much from the authoritative manuals that have 

 appeared of recent years, from lectures and meetings, from 

 articles in technical transactions and periodicals, and, per- 

 haps not least, from organized excursions to the Continent. 



But there has been practically no afforestation of fresh 

 land, and what little has taken place has been more than 

 cancelled by the curtailment of the area of previously 



