NATIONAL FORESTRY. 9 



is the area ready for actual labour. The time required 

 for this initial work depends upon the nature and extent 

 of the ground which is being treated. 



Even then it is not ready for the planter. Much more 

 preparation which, however, entails a certain amount of 

 labour has to be done. The area must be enclosed with 

 suitable fences and drained where necessary ; ground game 

 must be exterminated, and bracken-cutting attended to at 

 the proper season ; and any other preparatory work must 

 be carried out, according to the conditions, before planting 

 operations can commence. While this preliminary work 

 is in progress, the raising of plants for the ground under 

 survey will have been attended to in the nursery work 

 which can be carried out to a great extent by women. 

 But the surveying and planning is the real preliminary 

 work, and it is that which should have immediate attention. 

 What is required is to have a number of suitable areas 

 earmarked, surveyed, mapped out, and so prepared that 

 when the time comes that labour is available there will 

 be no unnecessary delay in getting the planting set agoing 

 on systematic principles. Provided sufficient labour is 

 available to perform the draining and fencing and other 

 heavy work, women may (in most localities) be suitably 

 employed on actual planting operations and other light 

 work.* 



Owing to the present denudation of existing woodlands, 

 there will be a great amount of planting required to 

 restock the cleared ground. It ought, therefore, to be the 

 primary aim of the Government to^ ensure that all such 

 areas are properly treated and not allowed to run to waste. 

 This, however, will be a simple process compared with 

 the treatment of new ground, because cleared woodland is 



* This has been amply demonstrated during the last two winters. See 

 Transactions of the Royal Scottish Arbor icultural Society ', vol. xxxii., 

 Part I., page 81. Seven months' experience of women-workers by the 

 writer confirms this claim. 



AF, B 



