Canadian Forestry Magazine, October, ig20. 



463 



Rebuilding the Scottish Woodlands 



By Col. John Sutherland, Assist a 



Britain is the largest wood importer 

 in the world, and it is a striking fact that 

 so little effort has been made in the past 

 to help to meet the demand for timber 

 by increased production within the coun- 

 try. Greater Britain or the British Em- 

 pire is potentially the largest timber pro- 

 ducing unity among the nations. The al- 

 most unbounded resources which the 

 Empire possesses in all parts of the 

 world need only be scientificially de- 

 veloped and conserved in order to en- 

 sure our future supplies and to remove 

 all apprehension of a timber famine. The 

 Mother Country has undoubtedly lagged 

 behind the Dominions and the Colonies 

 in matters of forest production and con- 

 servation. Of her 121,380 square miles 

 barely 4 per cent, has been under forest 

 in recent times ; still the earliest records 

 show that once upon a time Great Bri- 

 tain was a densely wooded country. 

 Forestry development has not kept pace 

 with other industrial enterprise. Britain 

 owes her supremacy to her insular posi- 

 tion and to the development of her Navy 

 r id. mercantile marine. Her many ex- 

 cellent ports and the ease with which 

 timber could be brought from over the 

 seas made it seem unnecessary to attend 

 to home resources in timber supplies, but 

 a visit to Scotland to-day will disclose 

 tiic importance of never again being 

 caught without an adequate reserve of 

 all the natural resources which can be 

 developed within our shores. 



The upper plains, hillsides, and low- 

 lying valley slopes, which five years ago 

 were covered with trees, are now bare, 

 and too often covered with the debris of 

 lhe exploiters. This state of matters, 

 while of the nature of a calamity, has not 

 altogether been devoid of good. The 

 War manifests the importance of timlx^r 

 and the necessity of securing within tlie 

 country a supply of wood sufficicnl to 

 make Britain more indcpcTidcnt of other 

 countries. 



At one time the whole of Scotland, 

 and especially that pari lying north of a 

 liii', drawn between I''(HnInirgh and Glas- 

 '•ow, was covered with dense forest. To 



at Forestry Commiss^ioner. 



what altitude the forest grew is more or 

 less a matter of conjecture, but traces 

 of large trees are found at elevations of 

 1,600 to 1,700 feet, and in some ascer- 

 t?.ined cases even 2,000 feet above the 

 level of the sea. The condition of the 

 country, covered as it was by wood, pro- 

 iected the inhabitants from invasion, and 

 while sheltering them, facilitated their 

 raiding hostilities upon the Lowlands. 

 ^V'hen the Romans invaded in the third 

 century they employed over 50.000 men 

 in destroying and opening up the forests 

 for the purpose of driving out the in- 

 habitants who resisted their advance, 

 anc! as indicative of the character of the 

 land they called the people Caledonii, a 

 name latinised by them from the Gaelic 

 "Na Caoilldaoin," which means "the men 

 of the woods." 



The devastation of the forests was not 

 confined to the invadfer, for the rival 

 sects and clans, retarded in their con- 

 quering aims by the woodland cover of 

 d.eir neighbouring enemies, took means 

 of destroying by fire wide forest tracts 

 throughout the whole country. Also in 

 Cromwell's time vast areas, especially in 

 the Scottish Borders, were laid waste by 

 f re for military purposes. In the early 

 days also serious inroails were maile by 

 extensive fellings, — for example, in the 

 iime of Edward III., during the first 

 half of the fourteenth century: in order 

 to raise revenue for the prosecution of 

 tlio French wars. Henry \7II. in the six- 

 teenth century; James I. a hundred vears 

 later, and Charles I. all helpe.j to reduce 

 the forest area either for colonisation 

 schemes or for the sake of revenue. Still 

 it is on record that both Heiirv \\U. 

 and James I. encouraged planting as an 

 important factor in national economy. 



The Forestry Commission Program- 

 me t'or Scotland is inider review, hut it 

 is generally anticipated that during the 

 ensuing ten years 75.{X)0 acres will be 

 p'.-:iited bv the Stale: that 25,000 acres 

 uiay be afToresled through loans or other 

 sobemes in co-operation with local auth- 

 ontiis and private owners, and that a 

 siniil.-ir area may be restored to trees in 



