ENGLAND'S-' NEW FOREST POLICY 



753 



INCREASING THE FOREST YIELD 



Converting an old hardwood forest in Gloucestershire to rapid growing conifers 

 how even the branches of the old trees are sawed and piled for fuel wood. 



countries. High lumber prices in Sweden and Norway 

 had only served to emphasize to those nations the im- 

 portance of conserving their timber supply by a restric- 

 tion upon the output. France and even Germany could 

 not quite supply their own needs and that nation which 

 did not conserve and build up its own natural resources 

 would be the first to suffer. 



So much was the British Parliament taken aback by 

 the findings of this committee that it passed almost imme- 

 diately a bill embodying its recommendations. Funda- 

 mentally, the law which created the British Forest Com- 

 mission is simply a recognition of the government's car- 

 dinal duty of assuming the largest share of the burdens 

 of reforestation. It recognizes, however, that the gov- 

 ernment could not and should not attempt a forest mo- 

 nopoly, and provides for assist- 

 ance to private owners, not only 

 in the form of advances for car- 

 rying on planting, but also 

 through the reclassification of 

 potential woodlands for tax pur- 

 poses. It specifically stipulates 

 that any private owner who will 

 adopt proper methods of forest 

 growth and conservation may re- 

 ceive a tax rebate until such time 

 as his forest shall come into 

 practical commercial production, 

 and the tax is then to be based, 

 not upon the capital value of 

 such land or forest, but upon the 

 actual income derived therefrom. 



Under the efficient leadership 

 of General Lord Lovat. who in 

 the capacity of Commander-in- 

 Chief of all British Forest troops 

 during the war, had become fully 



alive to the situation, and sup- 

 ported by appropriations from 

 Parliament, based upon a ten- 

 year budget system, the British 

 Forest Commission began to 

 function almost immediately 

 after the passage of the act. Be- 

 cause of its singular position as 

 an individual body responsible 

 only to the Ministry and Par- 

 liament which created it, oper- 

 ations have been exceptionally 

 free from internal disputes and 

 the delays of governmental red 

 tape. Hundreds of new nur- 

 series have sprung up in Eng- 

 land, Wales, Scotland and Ire- 

 land, and under an arrange- 

 ment with the Crown forest au- 

 thorities who originally con- 

 trolled the great forest parks of 

 Windsor, New Forest and simi- 

 lar districts the already established nurseries of the whole 

 country have.been drawn upon for more than sixteen mil- 

 lion seedlings. Nearly every section of the United King- 

 dom now displays many acres of healthy tree plantations. 



Under Parliamental instruction the committee does not 

 stop with the replanting of the forests cut during the 

 war, but has made a scientific study of the utilization of 

 those miles of waste lands along the sea and amid the 

 Scottish heath which have hitherto been almost entirely 

 unproductive. The downs and moors of England have 

 always played a large part in the poetry and romance 

 of the nation, and it is significant that now, for the first 

 time, they will figure in its economic reconstruction. For- 

 est lovers will appreciate that this utilization of a portion 



Note 



ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE CALEDONIAN CANAL 

 This famous waterway is well known to us through its use during the war as a short cut 

 for American submarine chasers. The bare and hitherto unproductive hillsides are beipg 

 converted into forests of pine, spruce and fir. - " 



