PREFACE 



The title of this volume was not cliosen with any refer- 

 ence to a recently appointed Commission, but because the 

 author believed that British Forestry, after lying almost 

 dormant for about 500 years, was really developing at last. 

 It is, as a matter of fact, a question of develojoment or 

 disappearance. The State is beginning to recognise the 

 absolute necessity for action being taken on afforestation, 

 and the private owner is at last realising that the con- 

 tinued existence of timber-yielding woodland is im- 

 possible without the skill and attention of the forester. 



The questions for each party to decide at the present 

 moment are : Upon what lines shall development proceed ? 

 Are the experiences and sacrifices of the past to be 

 ignored ? Is the still small voice of the practical man 

 to be unheeded in the din of discussions on impossible 

 schemes ? And are further sums of money and valuable 

 time to be spent on useless inquiries or wasteful experi- 

 ments ? 



An attempt has been made to present a general review 

 of the whole problem of afforestation as it must appear 

 to the landowner and the practical forester. Both the 

 specialist and enthusiast are apt to forget that the pro- 

 ductive land of Great Britain was practically absorbed by 

 or allotted to its various owners a century or two ago, and 

 anything left over is of much the same value as the leav- 

 ings and scrap-heaps of other industries. The Roman 

 proverb, 'Ex nihilo nihil fit,' applies to timber-growing as 

 much as to anything else, although, judging from state- 



