754 



NATURE 



[August ii, 192 i 



enterprise, 1 750-1 885 — landowners attempted by 

 their own efforts to re-establish the depleted wood- 

 lands, and they were aided only by voluntary 

 associations like the Society of Arts and the 

 Dublin Society, which encouraged effectively the 

 planting of trees by their prizes and premiums. 

 During the war, when it was a choice between 

 importing food or timber, it was the timber avail- 

 able in privately owned plantations that enabled 

 the people to be fed. 



In the third period — that of inquiry, 1885-1915 

 — it was gradually borne in upon the public mind 

 that unaided private enterprise could no longer 

 cope with the growing demand for timber by our 

 ever-increasing industries and that the primeval 

 forests of the world were not inexhaustible. Im- 

 ported timber increased continuously in price 

 during these thirty years. Select Committees, 

 Departmental Committees, and Royal Commis- 

 sions on Forestry followed in quick succession 

 and made recommendations which were mostly 

 unheeded. The Development Commissioners ap- 

 pointed in 1909 failed "to purchase and plant 

 land found after inquiry to be suitable " — one of 

 the duties imposed upon them — but it must be 

 admitted that they did useful pioneer work in 

 providing increased educational facilities, in ap- 

 pointing advisory forest officers, and in encourag- 

 ing with loans certain municipalities to afforest 

 their water-catchment areas. The state of affairs, 

 practically much inquiry and no afforestation, 

 was unsatisfactory in time of peace. One year 

 of war showed how critical the position was in a 

 time of national emergency. 



The final stage in our forest history — that of 

 State action, which began in 191 5 with the setting 

 up of Lord Selborne's Committee to expedite 

 home fellings of timber — is characterised by the 

 adoption of a definite national forest policy by 

 the Government, which was approved by Parlia- 

 ment when the Forestry Act was passed in 1919. 

 This policy has two aims. Its ultimate objective 

 is the creation in the British Isles of reserves of 



standing timber sufficient to tide the nation over 

 three years in time of war. For this purpose the 

 State must afforest 1,770,000 acres of new land — 

 1,180,000 acres in forty years, and the whole in 

 eighty years— and at the same time secure the 

 continuance under timber (with an increased pro- 

 duction) of the 3,000,000 acres of private forests 

 which existed in 1914. The immediate objective 

 is a ten-year scheme, based on a block grant of 

 3,500,000/. In this decade the Forestry Com- 

 mission will afforest 150,000 acres of new land 

 owned or leased by the State. The Commission is 

 also bound to aid private owners and local author- 

 ities in planting 110,000 acres during the ten years. 



The Report shows that there is no difficulty in 

 the State acquiring and planting the acreage men- 

 tioned in the preceding programme. It is another 

 story with regard to private forestry, for aid to 

 which the Commissioners set aside 327,000/., of 

 which 137,000/. has been allotted to proceeds- 

 sharing schemes between private individuals or 

 corporate bodies and the State, and 190,000/. to 

 grants and loans. However, the proceeds-shar- 

 ing schemes, being hedged round with cumber- 

 some rules to safeguard the public purse for the 

 period of a rotation (fifty to one hundred years), 

 are unpopular with landowners. Similarly, the 

 statutory regulations, under which 2/. grants per 

 acre are made for planting, prove to be so onerous 

 as to offer no inducements to private individuals. 

 The Commission must obtain powers to amend 

 these regulations, which defeat the object of 

 assisting landowners to make plantations. 



The Report gives a detailed account of the 

 operations carried out during the year, illustrated 

 with a map showing the land acquired and the 

 present planting centres. Education, research 

 and experiments, and publications are dealt with 

 briefly. Tables of imports of timber, statutory 

 orders and rules, and other official documents 

 conclude a Report which deserves to be studied 

 by all interested in the progress of forestry in this 

 country. 



1 



Notes. 



The classical experimental plots which Lawes and 

 Gilbert started at Rothamsted have been of the 

 greatest service to agricultural science, and their im- 

 portance Is constantly increasing. Fundamental ques- 

 tions in the physics, chemistry, and biology of agri- 

 culture can be attacked with more confidence in the 

 light of results obtained from long-continued field 

 experiments carried out on a systematic plan. 

 Further, the results are capable of statistical examina- 

 tion. The importance of the Rothamsted experiments 

 led to the institution of a parallel series at Woburn in 

 1876 by the Royal Agricultural Society. The Woburn 

 soil Is light and sandy, but that at Rothamsted Is a 

 heavy loam. The two series of experiments enable 

 instructive comparisons to be made between these 

 two soil types. All interested In agricultural science 

 received with concern the decision of the council of 



NO. 2702, VOL. 107] 



the Royal Agricultural Society to relinquish — owing 

 to economic conditions — the Woburn experiments. 

 Fortunately the danger has been averted. Arrange- 

 ments have been made for the experiments to be 

 continued under the auspices of, but legally distinct 

 from, the Rothamsted Experimental SVation. The 

 general portion of the Woburn farm will continue 

 under the direct control of Dr. A. J. Voelcker, who 

 for many years has carried out the duties on behalf 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society. The new arrange- 

 ment will not only ensure the continuance of the 

 valuable work already d6ne, but will also lead to a 

 closer contact with the work of Rothamsted. 



At our request, Prof. C. Runge, of Gottingen, has 

 been good enough to send us the following list of 

 leading men of science In Germany who .ha\'« died \ 



