442 



NATURE 



[August 7, 19 19 



It is in connection with the planting of new 

 ground, which will be one of the main duties of 

 the Forestry Authority, that a well-planned and 

 necessarily costly scheme of research and investi- 

 gation is necessary. Lord Clinton, a member of 

 the Interim Forest Authority, stated recently at 

 Exeter that no farms would be taken to increase 

 the woodland area. The new land to be acquired 

 for planting must thus be restricted to lowland 

 heaths and poor mountain pasture. The success- 

 ful planting of such ground is a difficult problem 

 if it is to be done at a reasonable cost. Research 

 on new lines is imperative. The services of the 

 best men in plant ecology, soil geology, botany, 

 dendrology, etc., must be enlisted, and a proper 

 team gathered together, in order to study the 

 conditions which militate in this class of ground 

 against tree growth, such as acidity of the soil, 

 exposure to wind, etc. Arrangements must also 

 be made for the selection of seed from the best 

 sources. 



Foresters in this country now rely on Pacific 

 Coast conifers for the rapid production of timber 

 in great quantity and of good quality. The 

 Douglas fir and Sitka spruce are the main species 

 employed, and so far these wonderful trees 

 have been successful. Thuya gigantea, equally 

 lauded and in many places already planted on a 

 considerable scale, has suddenly been attacked 

 by a fungus which threatens the extinction of this 

 species. This untoward event may act as a warn- 

 ing against Lord Ancaster's view that it is only , 

 necessary to dig holes and plant trees. Much 

 more knowledge is required of exotic species in 

 regard to their adjustability to the new environ- 

 ment to which they are exposed in this country. 



As to the replanting of the vast woodland areas 

 felled during the war, the Forestry Bill appears 

 to adopt the policy of the Report of the Forestry 

 Sub-Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, 

 which practically advocated the immediate pur- 

 chase and planting of new land on a large scale, 

 while it neglected to deal in a satisfactory 

 manner with the question of replanting. The 

 authors of the Forestry Bill, like the framers of 

 the Report, apparently do not wish to antagonise 

 the landowners by providing for compulsory re- 

 planting. This, it seems to us, is a needless fear 

 on their part, as all wise landowners will replant. 

 The argument in favour of compulsory replanting 

 is simple. The Reconstruction Sub-Committee 

 concedes the principle that afforestation is essential 

 to national safety, and consequently should be 

 carried out regardless of cost. It is not too much 

 then to ask the landowners, who during the war 

 sold their timber at an increased price, to replant 

 the denuded areas. This they are morally bound 

 NO. 2597, VOL. 103] 



to do on patriotic grounds. It is, moreover, the 

 only way of utilising economically the denuded 

 areas. A compulsory replanting clause should 

 be introduced into the BilL It will be a very easy 

 measure to carry out, as it is analogous to 

 compulsory tillage schemes, which have been very 

 successful. To sum up, it is the business of the 

 Forestry Authority to concentrate during the first 

 five years on replanting, and to proceed cau- 

 tiously with schemes for afforestation of poor land 

 — the only kind that will be available. 



We owe to Lord Lovat's strenuous advocacy 

 the principle adopted in the Bill of a single Forest 

 Authority for the United Kingdom, independent 

 of all control, and subject to no interference from 

 the existing Boards of Agriculture of England 

 and Scotland and the Department of Agriculture 

 for Ireland. Against this principle there is the 

 Haldane policy that forestry should be developed 

 in close association with agriculture both in 

 administration and in the practical working out 

 of schemes for buying suitable land for planting. 

 The main point of view of Lord Lovat's policy as 

 embodied in the Bill is to secure supplies of 

 timber in the country in the interests of national 

 safety, and no regard is to be paid to cost. 

 Forests are a national necessity, and the country 

 must have them, even though the money ex- 

 pended yields less than the current rate of interest 

 on the capital involved. We are in favour of the 

 Bill, which aims at an important national work 

 that has been too long delayed, and for neglect 

 of which in the past we suffered much in 'pocket 

 during the war. It is devoutly to be hoped, how- 

 ever, that now the Bill is in Committee of the 

 House of Commons the scientific and practical 

 aspects to which we have directed attention will 

 be improved for the sake of ensuring efficiency in 

 this important national enterprise. Great praise 

 should be given to the earnest efforts of Lord 

 Lovat and his coadjutors in preparing the valuable 

 Reconstruction Report, on the basis of which the 

 measure is founded. That they have succeeded in 

 inducing the Government to take up afforestation 

 seriously is due to their energy, and augurs well 

 for their success in carrying out afforestation in 

 this country once the Bill becomes an Act. 



HYDROGEN IN WAR AND INDUSTRY. 

 The Chemistry and Manufacture of Hydrogen. 

 By Major P. Litherland Teed. Pp. vii+152. 

 (London : Edward Arnold, 1919.) Price 

 I05. 6d. net. 



ONE of the most characteristic phases of 

 modern industrial chemistry is to be seen 

 in the extraordinary and unlooked-for develop- 

 ment in the application to utilitarian purposes of 

 the substances collectively known as the gases. 



