CHAPTER VI 



THE NEED FOR IMPROVED METHODS AND PRACTICE 

 IN BRITISH FORESTRY 



Of the various features of British as compared with 

 continental forestry three stand out fairly conspicuously : 

 (1) the small size of British woods; (2) their mixed 

 or indefinite character; and (3) their lack of density 

 and deficient yield during their early and middle 

 stages of development, and the low quality of the 

 matured timber. On the first of these features some 

 light has already been thrown, and it is unnecessary to 

 repeat it here. The general results of the other two must 

 be largely attributed to the absence of economic prin- 

 ciples in the management of British woods, which 

 accounts for the fact that definite crops grown on definite 

 rotations are seldom if ever met with, the result being 

 that trees and Avoods are cut long before or long after 

 being mature, as the case may be, and are placed on the 

 market more or less irrespective of their abilities to meet 

 the requirements of any particular trade or industry. 

 One has only to compare the return in cubic feet from an 

 average acre of British woodland with that obtained from 

 forests properly managed in Central Europe, to see how 

 deficient they are in all qualities that combine to make 

 woodland management profitable. 



But the low yield of British woods is probably due not 

 so much to the general ignorance of the systems of wood 

 management, as to methods of planting, thinning, and 

 felling, which, while probably sound in principle, are 



