284 Practical Forestry 



and the disinclination of owners of land to engage in 

 extensive planting operations, the question naturally 

 arises : What is the most feasible way of overcoming 

 the difficulty ? 



In answer, and without the slightest hesitation, I would 

 say that the State should acquire and plant suitable waste 

 lands at the rate of 40,000 acres annually for a period of 

 twenty-five years. Such lands could, in England, Scotland 

 and Wales, be gradually and cheaply acquired by the State, 

 while in Ireland there are vast tracts of peat bog which their 

 owners would willingly hand over to the Government at the 

 present time at a small cost per acre. Taking the British 

 Isles as a whole, the cost of procuring suitable lands would 

 be at an annual rental of about 3s. per acre, or 40<s. per acre 

 for purchase. On the Gwydyr Estate, Carnarvonshire, 

 7,412 acres of land, described as rough grazing and sheep 

 walk, were lately sold by public auction for 15,670, or at 

 the rate of 2 2s. 3d. per acre. I have little faith either in 

 the State advancing money to landed proprietors towards 

 afforesting, or in municipalities coming to the front as 

 planters of woodlands. The State would be the best custo- 

 dian of forest property for the simple reason that the State 

 only can readily acquire the needed land in sufficient quantity 

 and on the best terms, and I am fully convinced that plan- 

 tations formed under Government supervision will, in an 

 economic sense at least, be far more successful than those 

 planted either by private persons or public bodies. Again, 

 the continuity of ownership under such a scheme, together 

 with the ample resources guaranteed by State control, would 

 both largely contribute towards a successful issue in such 

 an undertaking. 



The difficulty of housing and providing for the workmen 

 employed in afforesting out-of-the-way lands has been 

 brought to my notice, but from personal experience of simi- 

 lar work in Scotland and Wales I anticipate little difficulty 

 in that way. In these cases, where a good deal of the work 

 was carried out by contract, the workmen gladly walked 

 to and from the adjoining villages each day, often a distance 

 of three or four miles, bringing their midday meal with 



