20 THE GAME QUESTION. 



demonstrably for the general good of the nation, it would 

 appear to be somewhat unfair to expect the timber- 

 growing side of the project to bear the whole expense of 

 housing. This is clearly a case in which a special annual 

 grant should be made. As agriculture would benefit as 

 well as forestry (for their interests, in Highland areas, 

 would be quite inseparable), such a grant would be 

 profitable economy. For it would mean that within the 

 forest area housing for all classes of holders would be 

 provided at about half the cost that a dual scheme would 

 entail; and, as has been shown, it is only by the joint 

 use of the ground by forestry and agriculture that great 

 stretches of the Highlands (and of the southern uplands) 

 can be made a real source of national strength. 



CHAPTER V. 



/ 



THE GAME QUESTION. 



THE question of dealing with game may prove to be one 

 of the most troublesome problems to be encountered in the 

 advancement of forestry. The protection and encourage- 

 ment of certain game birds and animals has developed a 

 sport which now occupies a position altogether dispropor- 

 tionate to its utilit}'. From the point of view of forestry 

 it has become a positive evil. No good is to be gained by 

 detailing the damage that has been done by game during 

 the last half-century through the excessive importance 

 that has been attached to it. Suffice it to say that game 

 has been responsible for a great amount of unskilful (and 

 therefore unremunerative) management of woods. In too 

 many cases woods have been reared to produce good game- 

 coverts rather than good timber. The interests of forestry 

 do riot demand the total abolition of sport or the wholesale 



