82 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



pays, and principally to foreign countries, no less 

 than between eighteen and nineteen million pounds 

 sterling for pines and fir timber which could 

 quite well be grown in Great Britain and Ireland. 

 There are some sixteen million acres, now prac- 

 tically unproductive, available for this purpose ; 

 and if our existing woods and forests were 

 managed on business principles, and State en- 

 couragement were given for making large planta- 

 tions under economical management, Britain might 

 in the future be self-supporting as to all the coni- 

 ferous wood required for building purposes. 



In Britain, Forestry on business principles must 

 soon pay better than ever it has done since the 

 changes consequent on the great revolution in 

 communications and commerce effected by rail- 

 ways and steamships. The rapid commercial deve- 

 lopment and the ever-growing expansion of trade 

 in America and Germany, our greatest commercial 

 rivals, are bringing an influence to bear on the 

 great timber markets of the world which has 

 already begun to cause the price of timber to 

 rise. And this rise in the price of timber will 

 not be merely temporary, it will be permanent 

 and progressive. 



