ii6 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



rural life, that if the money can be readily spared 

 little inducement is necessary to promote a wide in- 

 crease of woodland area. The great question is, How 

 can it be carried out when money is not forthcoming ? 

 Money may be borrowed for the purpose, but this 

 creates a further burden, and those who own or 

 manage land know too well that the land is already 

 overburdened, in fact will bear no more. The Settled 

 Land Act, 1882, makes provision by allowing capital 

 trust money to be used for the purpose of planting. 

 See section 21, sub-section (III.), and section 25, sub- 

 section (IX.). A further question and by no means 

 a depressing one is this. Will not wise and judicious 

 planting serve to pay off and clear away much of the 

 existing debt in a comparatively short space of time? 

 If this can be proved, we think even a further burden 

 in the form of a rent-charge will not deter many from 

 planting largely. 



If, again, this can be proved and brought home 

 clearly to landowners, we believe a great advance will 

 have been made, and that our area of woodland will 

 soon largely increase. 



The difficulty lies in proving this, but we by no 

 means shrink from such a task. Undoubtedly there 

 are soils that it will not pay to plant. Trees of sonic 

 kind will no doubt grow, but trees alone must be 

 grown which, in years to come, will be saleable z>., 

 when we look upon this matter purely from a com- 

 mercial point of view. These soils, however, we 

 believe to be few and far between. Most soils can be 

 made to carry trees, suitable for home consumption, 

 to a profitable maturity, even if they are incapable of 



