266 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



provided the control is kept within reasonable financial 

 bounds, than those to existing regulations on sanitation 

 and health as applied to houses and persons. Regulations 

 in force for the upkeep of woods in foreign countries show 

 that this control is not outside practical politics, and need 

 not be objectionable or irksome in any way. 



In many other parts of the country a different system 

 must be adopted to produce the desired result. In some 

 districts, especially those with small holdings or estates, 

 the direct acquisition of comparatively small blocks of 

 land is indicated, for in these the individual can do little 

 bej'ond the planting of shelter and ornamental timber. 

 Blocks of not less than 400 or 500 acres can scarcely be 

 economically administered, but there is no necessity to 

 stand out for too large areas in view of the present divided 

 condition of many parts of the country. In Ireland, the 

 breaking up of estates is enabling blocks of this size to be 

 formed with little difiiculty, as the demesne woods usually 

 run to several hundreds of acres, and the addition of a 

 little grassland to round off the boundaries is all that is 

 necessary to create a comj)act block. This process will 

 eventually lead to a widely distributed system of small 

 State woodlands in that country, which will take the place 

 of estate woods as found in Great Britain, and will per- 

 haps meet the needs of the country in supplying com- 

 mercial timber. 



But where estate woods are likely to be maintained in 

 any case the soundest policy is that of trying to improve 

 them by the various forms of assistance outlined above. 

 In the fertile and best cultivated parts of the country land 

 cannot be economically obtained for further afforestation 

 in any case, and the existing estate woods are not likely to 

 be greatly increased in either size or number. In many 

 cases, however, their present yield of timber could be 

 certainly doubled or trebled by good management, and if 

 public money could be devoted to bringing this about, it 



