34 A NATIONAL PLANTING SCHEME 



emergency nurseries have been instituted in the 

 Crown woods, e.g. at the Forest of Dean, Tintern, 

 Windsor, and elsewhere, where many million plants are 

 being raised for planting out. But many more will be 

 required if planting is to be started on a scale at all 

 commensurate with the nation's needs. A list of nur- 

 serymen in this country should be drawn up, 1 and the 

 amounts of the various commercial species of two, three, 

 and four-year-old plants available in their nurseries be 

 correctly entered. This would give us the number of 

 plants existing in the country, and, therefore, the 

 number of acres which could be undertaken with home 

 produce during the first two years or so of the work. 

 If required and they probably would be additional 

 plants could be obtained from certain famous nurseries 

 in the neutral Continental countries. Thus it should 

 be possible, before the next planting season opened, 

 to ascertain definitely the exact area it would be 

 possible to undertake with the plants available. 8 



We now come to the labour question. The question 

 of available labour is left for a subsequent chapter. 

 A planting campaign such as is here suggested could 

 not be left to individual effort. It would have to be 

 inaugurated by a central organisation, e.g. the Board 

 of Agriculture, who would undertake and control the 

 whole of the supply of labour, as also of plants. For 

 this purpose, the most feasible scheme would probably 

 be to raise a labour corps, preferably embodied in the 



1 Since this was written a list has been prepared and the approxi- 

 mate amounts available are known. 



a It is estimated that 10,000 acres could be planted up now with 

 the available plants. 



