CURRENT LITERATURE 



REVIEWS 



The Development of British Forestry. By 

 A. C. Forbes, F. H. A. S., chief forestry 

 inspector to the Department of Agri- 

 culture for Ireland: Illustrated, pp. 

 xi, 274. New York: Longmans, Green 

 & Co.; London: Edward Arnold, 1910. 

 In his preface the author expresses the 

 belief that "British forestry, after lying 

 almost dormant for about five hundred 

 years, is really developing at last." The 

 book is an attempt "to present a general 

 review of the whole problem of afforesta- 

 tion as it must appear to the landowner 

 and the practical forester." It will be 

 noted that afforestation, or reforestation, 

 is the aspect in which forestry largely ap- 

 pears under British conditions. The elab- 

 orate report of the royal commission on 

 coast erosion will be recalled as a further 

 indication of this. Mr. Forbes, the author 

 of the present volume, is known as the 

 author of a book on "British Estate For- 

 estry," published a few years ago, which 

 has had readers among those interested in 

 forestry in this country. 



In his opening chapter the author brings 

 out the natural connection between moun- 

 tain and forest, and also makes a pregnant 

 suggestion in pointing out that the lack 

 of forests in the British Isles is in large 

 measure due to alienation of land to private 

 proprietorship, while on the continent, 

 wnen the need of forest preservation be- 

 came evident, large tracts still were con- 

 trolled by state, crown, church or com- 

 mune, or "possibilities existed of resuming 

 possession of them on easy terms." This 

 historic fact suggests that we have begun 

 none too soon to reserve our government 

 forest lands, and it may be added that we 

 have already experienced the difficulty of 

 resuming public ownership of what has 

 once been alienated. It is being recognized 

 throughout Europe, Mr. Forbes concludes, 

 "that private enterprise will not or cannot 

 maintain a supply of timber which will 

 meet the needs of modern civilization." 

 These and other generalizations Mr. Forbes 

 supports with facts and figures. 



He next takes up the forest require- 

 ments of the United Kingdom. He finds 

 that estimating at 3,000,000 the present 

 timber-bearing acreage, an addition of 

 4,000,000 acres is needed for economic tim- 

 ber growing and must be taken from the 

 agricultural and grazing land. This may 

 be compared with the estimates of the royal 



686 



commission previously referred to, a re- 

 port by the way which Mr. Forbes regards 

 as financially unsound. The relation of 

 agriculture to forestry development is the 

 theme of the third chapter and here we 

 find reflected the opinion applied on the 

 continent and generally growing abroad 

 that more or less fairly good land can and 

 should be applied to economic forestry, and 

 that forest planting should not be done 

 upon land that will not produce profitable 

 results. 



The relations of climate and tree growth 

 form the subject of another chapter, fol- 

 lowed by one on soil and surface conditions 

 in the British Isles. The sixth chapter 

 deals with the need for improved methods 

 and practice in British forestry. In this 

 connection the author points out three fea- 

 tures of British as compared with continen- 

 tal forestry: (1) the small size of British 

 woods; (2) their mixed or indefinite char- 

 acter; and (3) their lack of density, de- 

 ficient yield during their early and middle 

 stages of development, and the low quality 

 of their matured timber. This is surely a 

 sufficient basis for suggestions for im- 

 provement. A natural sequence of this is 

 a chapter on the economic value of the 

 British forest flora. Some financial aspects 

 of British forestry are considered and sev- 

 eral tables showing British and continental 

 yields accompany this chapter. 



The last chapter treats of the problem 

 of the state and private owners. The au- 

 thor has evidently given much thought to 

 this topic and his views, while relating 

 especially to British conditions, have in 

 many respects general application. They 

 are carefully and conservatively formed. 

 Mr. Forbes believes in the necessity of 

 private ownership of small woodlands and 

 close co-operation between the state and 

 the individual in forest management. One 

 of his criticisms of the royal commission's 

 afforestation report is that it ignores this 

 necessity and assumes that the state can 

 entirely take the place of the individual 

 owner. 



Comprehensive examinations like this of 

 a national forest problem in its various 

 phases are valuable not only in their own 

 country, but for comparison in other coun- 

 tries. This book is well reasoned, well 

 written, and well illustrated. It is com- 

 paratively free from difficult technicality 

 and can be studied by the layman with 

 profit. 



