52 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



fore, two-thirds of the forest area of Europe are owned 

 by public bodies which have no direct incentive, on 

 pecuniary grounds, for destroying their property, but 

 are more hkely to improve it. If Britain is to follow on 

 the same lines as are found necessary or expedient else- 

 where, this point must be carefully considered. Apart 

 from Russia, in which the State owns 60 per cent, and 

 communes 10 per cent., or an area of about 320,000,000 

 acres between the two, the proportion of state, communal, 

 and corporate forests in other European countries is 

 much lower than is stated above, being less than half the 

 total area, leaving private ownership the predominating 

 form in which woodland is held. As is well known, this 

 form of ownership prevails over 95 per cent, of the existing 

 woodlands in Great Britain and Ireland, and applies equally 

 to planted and unplanted land. Except on entailed estates, 

 on which some obligations as to replanting or maintenance 

 of existing woodlands are observed in a perfunctory manner, 

 British woodland proprietors are at liberty to dispose of 

 this form of property as they choose, and may allow the 

 timber to decay on the ground, destroy growing crops by 

 improvident thinnings or premature fellings, or divert 

 the land entirely from timber-growing and put it to other 

 uses. Such freedom as regards private woodland is not 

 universal over Europe, and in most countries legislation 

 compels the private owner to maintain and renew his 

 woods for all time, unless special reasons exist for the 

 employment of the land otherwise. This is, in a general 

 way, as it should be, for crops which require care and 

 expenditure during three generations to produce should not 

 be destroyed by the indifference or selfishness of a fourth. 

 In countries in which compulsory upkeep is enforced, 

 it is generally recognised that some form of assistance 

 from the State is necessary to bring about the desired 

 results. While the returns from properly managed woods 



