STUDIES IN FORESTRY 



CHAPTER I 



FORESTRY IN BRITAIN 



IN the Agricultural Returns of Great Britain^ published for 

 1892 by the Board of Agriculture, it is shown that, whilst the 

 total area of the United Kingdom is 77,642,099 acres, the 

 extent to which it is utilized agriculturally and sylviculturally 

 is as follows : 



Though the acreage covered with forest is undoubtedly 

 extensive, amounting as it does to 470 square miles, or 3-8 % 

 of the total area of land and water, yet it does not at first 

 glance convey the full extent of the important interests repre- 

 sented by it. On arable land, and in fact on all land utilized 

 agriculturally, the sowing of the seed is followed within one 

 year by the reaping of the harvest; but in woodlands such 

 can never be the case. With the exception of willow-beds 

 cut over annually when once the stools are in vigorous bearing, 

 and coppice-hags of Oak for tanning-bark, or of various woods 

 for other purposes, long periods must necessarily elapse before 

 the timber-crops reach their highest material, technical, and 

 financial value ; hence the advantageous time of maturity may be 



