142 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



drainage has been carried out, and eventually able to cover 

 the surface with a thick uniform leaf canopy which fulfils 

 the desired object sooner or later. 



But however useful such crops as the above may be in 

 improving the surface, and providing shelter for subse- 

 quent planting, they are not in themselves capable ot 

 producing commercial timber on anything but the most 

 diminutive scale. None of them is able to attain a greater 

 height than thirty, forty, or possibly fifty feet, while the 

 cubic contents of individual trees scarcely entitle them to 

 be termed timber. Apart from firewood, and the produc- 

 tion of poles for fencing or pit wood, the produce of what 

 may be termed ' preliminary crops ' is of little commercial 

 value. This has been found out in Denmark, Schleswig- 

 Holstein, Prussia, Holland, and other European countries 

 in which attempts have been made to afforest excessively 

 poor or exposed heaths and sands, and the introduction of 

 more valuable species at a later period has not as yet led 

 to much more satisfactory results. 



The fact still remains, although this point is often 

 forgotten, that after all possible improvement of the 

 surface of mountain peat, the soil still remains only a 

 poor one at the best, and only capable of producing poor 

 crops. It is conceivable that successive generations may 

 m course of time give a satisfactory soil at last, but there 

 is not the slightest possibility, under present conditions, 

 that the ultimate returns from such wastes will ever 

 repay the money spent on reclaiming them, or yield any 

 interest on the capital invested. 



The cost of draining, fencing, preparing the surface, and 

 planting with soil-improving crops, as the case may be, 

 cannot be carried out for less than £5 or £6 per acre 

 under the most favourable conditions. In most cases 

 £10 would be nearer the mark. Assuming that the crop 

 thus produced stands for a period of twenty years before 



