SYSTEMATIC FORESTRY 113 



duties, and tlie competition of foreign timber, 

 self-sown, and also, as English owners maintain, 

 protected by preferential treatment on English 

 railroads. This one-sided way of stating their 

 case is one of the reasons why they have not 

 succeeded in converting the persons principally 

 interested, that is, the owners and agents of 

 English woods. 



The reluctance to follow German methods is 

 not due to want of knowledge of those methods. 

 Members of the Royal Arboricultural Society 

 have visited Germany, and under the guidance 

 of German State foresters have inspected forests. 

 Most EngHsh people who possess or manage 

 woods have travelled on the Continent, and it 

 is not to be assumed that during their travels 

 they have kept their eyes absolutely closed. 

 It is at least a possible hypothesis that the 

 omission to follow Continental methods is the 

 result of a reasonable belief that they are unsuited 

 to English woodlands. 



Some of the criticism directed against English 

 owners on the ground of their indifference to 

 science and reluctance to follow German methods, 

 may have arisen from political motives ; that is, 

 dislike of landowners as a class or an objection 

 to private ownership ; but a great part springs 

 8 



