12 15RITISII FOREST TREES 



throughout Britain has been carried somewhat too far, and 

 measures have in many parts of the country been taken to 

 rectify the errors of the past by means of planting on an 

 extensive scale. But, thanks to our insular position with its 

 moist climate, and to the equalising influence of the Gulf 

 Stream on the latter, in modifying the heat of summer 

 and the rigour of winter as compared with the extremes of 

 Continental countries situated within the same degrees of 

 latitude, the destruction of the British woodlands has not 

 been followed by such disastrous climatic changes as 

 followed the denudation of forests in the Landes, Greece, 

 Syria, Asia Minor, and Russia. 



In the Greater Britain formed by the colonies and de- 

 pendencies of the empire Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 

 the Cape, Natal, &c., and especially India we still own the 

 most extensive and the most valuable timber-producing 

 tracts in the world, and thanks to the advances in maritime 

 and inland communications, are able to supply easily all 

 the demands that have hitherto arisen in regard to timber. 



Considerations regarding timber production in Britain 

 must, therefore, in general be determined mainly by the 

 degree in which such operations can be shown to rest on a 

 secure and remunerative financial basis. Arboriculture will 

 still be necessary in parks and open spaces, for the 

 residential portions of large estates, and under similar con- 

 ditions where aesthetic aims are comparatively untrammelled 

 by economic considerations : but the sylviculture! operations 

 of private proprietors on a large scale must usually be 

 guided by coldly calculating estimates regarding attainable 

 revenue and necessary expenditure, and a preference will 

 naturally be given to such species of trees, systems of rota- 

 tion, and methods of treatment, as whilst duly protecting 

 tlie productive capacity of the soil hold out fair promise 

 of yielding the most profitable nett results. 



