82 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



of a farm of this kind may be put at about £50 to £80 per 

 annum, and the tenant may make from £80 to £150 a 

 year profit, according to season. Adding to the vakie of 

 the stock an adequate sum for his interest in the holding, 

 would probably leave him with about £500 or £600 in 

 cash, a sufficient amount to start life afresh in a farming 

 colony, perhaps, but not sufficient to allow him to experi- 

 ment in a new business at home. Few men, again, who 

 have lived the greater part of their lives on these hold- 

 ings are inclined to emigrate, and there is little doubt 

 that compulsory purchase on a large scale would lead to 

 opposition, and an expression of public opinion sooner or 

 later which would be fatal to the whole movement. What 

 compensation would a man of this kind require for giving 

 up possession of his farm ? If turned out, he cannot re- 

 invest his capital with any prospect of success in any other 

 trade than that to which he has been reared, and besides 

 cannot take another farm without displacing another man 

 in turn. In cases where the views and inclination of the 

 man himself happen to fit in with an afforestation scheme 

 no trouble would be experienced, but such cases, although 

 not uncommon, are certainly not universal. 



The cost of purchasing land of this class would, again, be 

 considerable. Putting the compensation for disturbance 

 as low as £200, and the landlord's price at £1000, a total 

 of £1200 is reached per holding of about 300 acres or, in 

 fee-simple, an average cost of about £4 per acre. If the 

 whole area thus acquired were capable of profitable 

 planting, this would not represent anything unreason- 

 able ; but in few cases would this be possible, and from 

 one-fourth to one-half of any large area acquired 

 would probably not yield a crop able to pay expenses, 

 leaving any profit to come from the remainder. The 

 actual productive area would thus be heavily burdened 

 at the outset by its purchase at a cost of £G to £8 



