172 FORESTRY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



Some of these articles could be produced in this country, 

 such as wood pulp, but the majority cannot be grown or 

 manufactured in Britain. 



a. Forests and Game. 



Unfortunately, the old taste for the chase has now changed 

 into the love of killing as many head of game as possible 

 within the shortest possible space of time. This holds good 

 especially with regard to red deer, grouse, pheasants and 

 rabbits. Let us begin wiih red deer. These are chiefly 

 found in Scotland, where enormous areas are set aside for 

 the purpose of rearing them. Such areas contain either no 

 woods at all or remnants of former forests. The object is to 

 procure as many stags as possible, so as to raise the shooting 

 rent to a maximum. But the animals shot on these deer 

 ranges are nothing like the fine beasts found in woodland 

 areas. The pleasure of stalking a king of the forest and 

 carrying home a fine trophy is far superior to bringing home 

 three or four heads, such as are now obtained in Scotland. 

 If a larger proportion of the Scotch forests were once more 

 brought under wood, we should, no doubt, improve the breed, 

 and at the same time increase the revenue from the lands in 

 question by the sale of timber. 



The grouse, on the other hand, requires open lands, but 

 there is room enough in Scotland, with its nine million acres of 

 waste land, for the rearing of grouse, even if a fair proportion 

 of the land were afforested. 



As to pheasants, it is easy to show that they can be reared, 

 in great numbers without interfering with the economic 

 management of the coverts. This subject will be dealt with 

 in Section IV. 



Babbits, however, are a plague which more and more 

 endangers a rational utilization of the soil. If a minute 

 investigation were made into the damage done by rabbits, not 

 only in forests but also on agricultural lands, people would be 

 astonished at the amount. If the killing of large numbers of 



