484 THE FUTURE OF OUR AGRICULTURE. 



and warrens and moors to fields so long that there is some- 

 thing like an Augean stable left to clear out, to which task 

 only Herculean efforts by the omnipotent State are held to 

 be equal. How far we can follow the example of the Italian 

 Government in respect of the expropriation of terveno assog- 

 gettato alia honifica ma non honificato, or, again, the example 

 of the French Government, in expropriating- — or taking 

 power for doing so, at any rate — land suited for afforestation 

 au nom de I'utilite puhlique, it will be for others to consider. 

 Certainly some measure of oversight, holding compulsion 

 in reserve, seems called for, and the introduction of an 

 official regime for estier would be not amiss. For all measures 

 aiming at the increase of the value of land, which naturally 

 involve operations of long duration, outside help in money is 

 indispensable. However it remains to be shown that, once 

 title has been made sure, giving scope to credit, and the 

 duty to plant and manage well has been rendered effective, 

 under adequate safeguards, private organisations, laying 

 themselves out for this particular work, might not provide 

 the money required under methods such as the German 

 landschajten have applied and the power or duty to apply 

 which, in a different form, is now in France sought for the 

 Credit fonder or some similar body. There is so much 

 money in this country ; adequate security for good manage- 

 ment, such as must be insisted upon, may so well be taken ; 

 and the money market would probably be so willing to accept 

 what in Germany and Denmark, and elsewhere, has become 

 a favourite investment in the shape of land bonds, that at 

 any rate it is quite conceivable that private enterprise would 

 be equal to grappling with the matter. The bonds issued 

 by the corporate bodies alluded to are not simple mortgages, 

 secured by one land pledge and withdrawable singly on a 

 debtor's demand, but bonds for which the entire volume of 

 properties pledged answers collectively, in addition to the 

 capital of the shareholders in the financially operating con- 

 cern and which is repaid according to a fixed plan. One 

 duty which the State will certainly have to charge itself 

 with, however, is a thorough survey of the country, to ascer- 

 tain what land there is, to either reclaim or afforest. 



