considerable period of years, and the financial aspect of 

 forestry in this countr}^ would remain as obscure as it has 

 been in the past. 



It has been said, that British forestry is a thing apart. 

 That, no doubt, is so in its present condition ; but the question, 

 whether it is desirable to afforest additional areas and to 

 work them on economic principles, depends first and foremost 

 on the financial aspect. Hence, if we discard the information 

 supplied by adjoining countries, no substantial progress can 

 be made for a generation or so. 



There is an important point yet to be mentioned. My 

 object in publishing the Manual of Forestry was to give a 

 clear picture of economic forestry. That picture was to serve, 

 in the first place, in the education of candidates for the 

 Indian Forest Department and only incidentally for the 

 instruction of those, who take an interest in the development 

 of forest management in this country. Hence, I took my 

 illustrations from the country, where economic forestry has 

 been most highly developed, and not from Britain. In this 

 country, statistical data, which bear upon the economic aspect 

 of forestry, are as yet extremel}' rare, and it would have been 

 absolutely impossible to deal with the general aspect of the 

 subject without more complete statistics, even if they are 

 stamped with the well-known mark " Made in Germany." As 

 soon as we can boast of our own data, we shall be only too 

 pleased to put on one side those collected abroad. 



As the bulk of British forests are in the hands of private 

 proprietors, we must rely chiefly on the limited areas belonging 

 to the Crown, which are under the management of the Com- 

 missioners of Woods. Several of these areas have now been 

 placed under systematic management, and it may be expected, 

 that, year by year, useful data will become available, which 

 can ultimately be tabulated and made available for general 

 use in this country. At any rate, the most urgent need of 

 British forestry is the collection of statistics, which will enable 

 the proprietor and his forester to gauge the economic value of 



