IMPROVED BRITISH FORESTRY 331 



acres of the forest land had been lying waste there 

 simply because two clauses of the Act of 1877 

 prohibited clearing and planting being done. 



One peculiar feature of Forestry in Britain 

 has previously been remarked on (p. 269), namely, 

 that landowners have hitherto usually entered 

 on an investment of this permanent nature with- 

 out obtaining such professional advice as they 

 would, as a matter of course, seek in invest- 

 ments of any other nature. And a further 

 development of this same national peculiarity, 

 this * waste simply by not pursuing scientific 

 methods/ as Lord Rosebery put it, this neglect 

 of the business side of Forestry, is that the men 

 placed in charge of the woods, besides having 

 as yet no opportunity of obtaining sound and 

 comprehensive technical instruction, practical as 

 well as theoretical, are enormously underpaid 

 considering the responsibilities some of them 

 must have. Take, for example, a case men- 

 tioned recently at the Surveyors* Institution, in 

 which one landowner in particular, who is getting 

 more than a thousand pounds a year out of his 

 woods, pays his forester 153. a week ! Now, at 

 3 per cent, this income would indicate a capital 



