SOME PROBLEMS OF RE-AFFORESTATION. 



No figures are available to show what area of British woodlands 

 has been cleared during the war, but it is common knowledge 

 that felling has been much in excess of normal, while planting 

 operations have perforce been largely suspended. Timber of 

 all kinds has been in demand, but the inroads have undoubtedly 

 been greatest in the case of conifers, and owners of poorly-grown 

 immature Scots pine, spruce, and larch have had an opportunity 

 to realise, at a good price, timber which in pre-war times was 

 practically unsaleable. 



Whether the Government will take steps to secure the re- 

 planting of denuded areas remains to be seen, but in any case 

 most owners will want to re-invest a portion of the sum realised 

 from sales, so that the next few years are likely to witness 

 considerable silvicultural activity. Much has been learned in 

 respect of economic forestry during the past twenty or thirty 

 years, and it is well that the results of such experience should be 

 applied to the problems of re-afforestation that lie ahead of us. 



There are some who hold that a planter's choice of species 

 should be confined to those which have been almost exclusively 

 relied on in the past. As regards hard woods this decision is a 

 sound one, and one cannot name a single exotic species of hard 

 wood possessed of merits superior, or even equal to, those 

 associated with native or long-acclimatized species. Our native 

 oak, ash, elm, birch, sycamore, willow and poplar grow as fast, 

 are as free from disease, and furnish as good timber as any 

 exotic species of these genera that have been tried. In saying 

 this it is not forgotten that Alnus incana possesses certain 

 characteristics not shared by the common alder, Alnus glutinosa, 

 inasmuch as it will grow quickly on poor thin chalky soil, and 

 thus prove useful as a nurse to better species. Then, again, a 

 number of exotic and hybrid poplars have been introduced 

 during recent years, and some of them seem to possess great 

 vigour in youth, but whether in the end they will surpass 



