WEBSTER'S 

 PRACTICAL FORESTRY 



CHAPTER I 

 FORESTRY AND THE WAR 



DURING the war, and for long afterwards, there is bound 

 to be a dearth of foreign timber, with the result that our 

 home supplies will be taxed to the utmost. This, indeed, 

 is already the case, and never before in the history of our 

 country has the demand for British-grown timber been 

 greater or prices higher than at the present time. 



Plantations in England and Scotland are being cut down 

 wholesale by the Government, while felling on private 

 estates is going on with such rapidity that in a couple of 

 years at most there is bound to be a dearth of all home- 

 grown timber, and of pitwood in particular. 



In the aggregate, our supplies are by no means great, 

 the total area at present under woodlands being only a 

 little over three million acres, to which, however, must be 

 added the amount of field and hedgerow timber a by no 

 means inconsiderable quantity. Of Plantation timber 

 much is, however, of very inferior quality and only suitable 

 for rough fencing and mining purposes, and this applies 

 generally to that grown throughout England, Wales and 

 Ireland. In Scotland, however, there are large areas of 

 coniferous woods that were planted for purely economic 

 purposes which will yield a certain amount of valuable 

 timber for pit-props and other immediate requirements. 

 The felling of Scotch, Spruce, and coniferous trees will, 



l B 



