NOTES ON TREES. 39 



new conditions, and although it would perhaps be over- 

 bold to put forth any of the results of a study over so 

 short a period as unchangeable facts, it is submitted that 

 the deductions made have so far proved themselves correct 

 in practical experience. We must proceed by easy stages 

 of development, and the sooner a national scheme of 

 afforestation is an actuality, the sooner shall we be able 

 to co-ordinate the various branches of the science, which 

 are still in their infancy, and to unite them firmly to a 

 central trunk of practical forestry, planted firmly on our 

 native soil. 



NOTE. 



THROUGHOUT this book the scheme, or schemes, which 

 the writer has mainly in mind are national that is, 

 carried out by the State on land purchased or rented for 

 the purpose from the present owners. Obviously, however, 

 these would have to be supplemented by schemes carried 

 out by private owners on their estates; and for such 

 private schemes a State loan or subsidy, secured under 

 proper conditions and guarantees, would in many cases 

 have to be given. Municipalities and County Councils 

 and other public bodies, such as Wholesale Co-operative 

 Societies, would also be entitled to subsidies if they 

 required them. It is impossible to lay down rules as to 

 the proportion of State-owned forests ; but there are some 

 grounds for believing that the ideal proportions would be : 

 Owned and worked by the State . . 25 % ; 



ii it other public bodies 40 % ; 



ii n private owners . 35 %. 



These proportions, however, would depend very largely on 

 the future course of land legislation. In any case, of 

 course, the rules followed in the State forests as to 

 management would have to be made binding on all other 

 owners of forests who had received loans or subsidies 



