REQUIREMENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM 49 



Kingdom ^ — and wherever the nature of the ground and 

 the situation of the wood will permit, care will have to be 

 exercised to choose a variety of tree that is in demand in 

 the neighbourhood, at the same time that its probable 

 realisable value will be as little affected as possible by 

 cheap foreign supplies. The larch, for instance, in many 

 parts of the United Kingdom meets these conditions. 

 Except from the White Sea Basin, no important supplies 

 of this wood can be obtained from abroad, and even from 

 the northern provinces of Russia, where it can be obtained 

 in quantity, the cost of bringing it to market is prohibi- 

 tory at present, and will be for many years. Larch does 

 not grow in the Scandinavian Peninsula or in Finland to 

 any appreciable extent, and its quality is inferior where it 

 has been planted there. 



' There are also amongst hardwoods some that can be 

 grown with advantage in the United Kingdom, where the 

 supplies from abroad are bound to become less and less. 

 Ash, for instance, in the United States, according to the 

 testimony of the largest agricultural implement makers 

 in that country, can hardly be obtained in sufficient quan- 

 tity for local consumption, and there are other woods in a 

 similar position. 



' The conclusions, therefore, to which we have come are 

 that, while we do not believe a timber famine is so immi- 

 nent as some alarmists would have us believe, we consider 

 the position such as to justify the intervention of the 

 government. To make re-afForestation a success, a fresh 

 Forest Department will have to be created, to which all 

 the State woodlands now existing should be transferred, 

 and with powers to gradually add to these suitable areas 

 with especial reference to the question of transport. If 

 these areas are sufficiently large and compact so as to be 

 economically worked, and the administration put in the 

 hands of the most experienced persons obtainable, no 



^ This opinion is not shared by the author. Vide cliap. vi. 

 D 



