RECLAMATION OF WASTE LAND. 455 



forest land, without charge to any one. Whether it may 

 be possible in largely wooded areas among ourselves to form 

 such classes, in order to teach the young idea how to plant, 

 and whether it would be possible to emj)loy the pupils in 

 the same manner, it must be for others to determine. 



What has here been told of practices beneficial to forestry, 

 carried on abroad, ought to provide some material for useful 

 suggestions as to desirable measures to be taken among 

 ourselves. Everybody seems now agreed that something, 

 and something substantial, will have to be done. There 

 is in the shape of forests an immense treasure waiting to 

 be raised in this country. " I do not think," so says Lord 

 Selborne, " that English landowners have the slightest 

 conception of the money they are throwing away, or that 

 the country realises the amount of undeveloped property 

 in this country. " It is time to awaken people out of their 

 sleep. And for that we want an authoritative " lead " 

 from an authorised quarter. For there are too many 

 various elements interested in this matter to be capable 

 of settling the question on a national basis by purely volun- 

 tary, spontaneous co-ordination and common action. The 

 huge mass wants stirring up, moving on a common plan, 

 guiding. Evidently there is a call for instructing, impelling 

 and restricting guidance, to secure singleness of aim, such 

 as is only to be made sure of by the adoption of a well- 

 understood " National Land Policy." 



