INTRODUCTION xi 



practically free from taxation, and, in the majority 

 of cases it is water-borne from the forest to the 

 English docks. France and Germany are timber- 

 importing countries. 



The English planter has the disadvantages set 

 out in the preceeding paragraphs. Also the 

 conditions of climate and market are different 

 from those on the Continent or in America. 

 English forestry cannot, therefore, from the 

 point of view of an owner or land-agent, 

 be adequately treated as if it were merely a 

 branch of continental or world-wide forestry. 



A thoughtful observer who considers the diffi- 

 culty of forestry and the disadvantages which 

 beset English owners will be amazed at the 

 excellence and the quantity of the timber in 

 English woods. In the past a depreciation of 

 English woodland management has been fashion- 

 able, and considered to be some proof of superior 

 wisdom and freedom from insular prejudice. At 

 the beginning of the war there were numerous 

 letters in the public press and speeches by those 

 who professed to speak with expert knowledge, 

 stating that, if the war lasted two years, all the 

 woods in the country would be unable to produce 

 sufficient pit-props for the mines. The great 

 masses of plantations which now exist at the 



