374 



NATURE 



[August i6, 1S94 



The amouDt of profit returnable from timber cultivation 

 must of course vary with the circumstances of the area in each 

 case, l>ut in comparing values it must always be borne in mind 

 that timber land is land which can yield no agricultural rent. 

 The official statistics relating to continental State forests show 

 us the result of forestry on a large scale, and it is interesting to 

 note how, under what we must believe to be an equally efhcient 

 system of forestry management, the net revenue from the several 

 areas differs greatly. Thus from its two million acres of forest 

 area Bavaria draws a little over five shillings per acre per 

 annum ; Wurtemburg, with nearly half a million acres, gets a 

 return of about eleven shillings ; and Saxony, with a some- 

 what less area, receives over seventeen shillings per acre per 

 annum. For this country we have no such figures. Our State 

 forests result in a loss. It is unfortunate, too, that no returns 

 are available from private forests and woodlands, either in 

 Britain or abroad. Estimates of possible profits in this country 

 we have abundantly, but solid figures of expenditure and receipt 

 in relation to timber growing there are none. Uy the favour 

 of Mr. Munro-Ferguson, M.P., who, as a landowner, 

 exhibits a most enlightened spirit in regard to forestry, I 

 am, however, able to cite the case of a pine and 

 larch wood at Novar, in Ross-shire, twenty-four acres in 

 extent, which was clean cut in 1883, and gives instructive 

 figures. After sixty-one years' growth on land similar 

 to that which in the neighbourhood yields a grazing rent of 

 from one lo two shillings per acre, it is found to have yielded a 

 net sum equal to a revenue to the landlord during the whole 

 period of its growth of over nine shillings per acre per annum, 

 or an increased value of quite seven shillings per acre per 

 annum. Although it refers to only a single wood of limited 

 extent, this return shows how profitable waste land m.iy become 

 nnder timber. No doubt from the estates of other of our land- 

 lords who own extensive woodlands, where, if there is not (he 

 highest scientific forestry, there is certainly good wood manage- 

 ment, results of an equally instructive kind could be obtained — 

 many would be better ; and it is much to be desired in the 

 interest of forestry that they should be made known as an 

 object-lesson to those who doubt the profit of Iree-growing. 



But in the return 1 quote from there is another interesting 

 point which 1 most not fail to note. During the period of 

 growth of the wood, the outlay upon labour in connection with 

 It amounted to a sum equal to an expenditure of over thirty-one 

 shillings per acre per annum. That is to say, this sum was 

 distributed in wages to the people of the neighbourhood. This 

 exhibits the benefits brought in (he train of lorestry, which are 

 no less important to the community a( large than is the profit 

 of the crop to the landowner. The scientific trea(ment of 

 woodlands and cultivation of forests for profit on a proper scale 

 involve the employment of a considerable amount ol labour, 

 much of it at a time when there is little else doing in country 

 distric(s, no( only in the actual (ending of the forest area, but 

 in the mnnipulaiion and subsequent preparation of the timber, 

 and in the manufacture of (he numerous by-products obtainable 

 from it. In these days of congestion in cities (he impor(ance 

 of the development of such an industry which can provide 

 occupation in the country, and (hus may aid in restraining 

 migration to the towns, has not escaped notice, and it cannot be 

 too often or loo greatly emphasised. 



The influences, (o which we have just given attention, that 

 have prevailed in bringing abou( the present limited area of 

 woodland in Britain are, i( will be seen, no( wholly irremovable, 

 nor arc (he obslaclcs to betterment insurmountable. And the 

 question we have now to discuss is — How are these to be 

 counteracted and overcome ? By what means is it possible to 

 bring foreslry in Briiain more in line with (hat of other na(ions? 

 At the outset I would say (hat if forestry is to be established on 

 a >ound commercial basis, the only one on which it should rex, 

 if we are (o have a national home-timber industry, it can only 

 be when the issues involved are more fully realised (han they 

 r. n'.wadays. As in agricultural practice failure can only be 

 cd by the application of scientific methods in farm culti- 

 :,, io is it with foreslry. To become a profitable industry 

 II must be practised as an applied science, and not as an em- 

 pirical routine. 



We live beyond the days when it would be possible (o apply 

 the autocratic remedy i^x want of woodbinds in(roducc<l in 

 .Scotland by the Jacobean slalule, which compelled the land- 

 lords not only (o plant wood and forest and make hedges, but 

 also enjoined them under penalties (o see (hat each of (he 



NO. 1294, VOL. 50] 



tenants planted one tree for every marke of land. Nor, indeed, 

 can much be said of the success of the compulsion. And I do- 

 not imagine anything could be gained nowadays by the method 

 adopted in Scodand in the middle of last century by the " Select 

 Society," as it was called, of offering a premium to farmers who- 

 planted ihe most trees within a specified time. That such pro- 

 cesses were deemed necessary is interesting as showing how 

 old standing has been the recognition of the want of sufficient 

 woodland area in the country. At the present time there are 

 those who would reverse, as it were, (he process of the old 

 statute, and who look to the acquisition by the Slate of large 

 areas of waste land, and their alTorestation by it, for the solutioa 

 of this foreslry question. It is, no doubt, a wise policy which 

 encourages private enterprise to deal with the details of indus- 

 (ries, and only invokes Slate aid as a directive and controlling 

 force when its need can be clearly shown. That there is need 

 for State aid in ihe case of forestry I do not deny, but it is not 

 required lo the extent just mentioned. 



I unhesitatingly say that the Stale ought to (reat the forest 

 areas now in its possession in a reasonable and scientific manner, 

 instead of leaving them as objects for the finger of scientific 

 scorn. They might be made, in part at least, models of the 

 best foreslry practice. It is no use lo dispute with (he sentiment 

 and tasle which have prevailed in making (he New Fores( what 

 i( now is, and i( is hopeless lo expect an unanimous verdict as to 

 the destiny of Stale woods and upon the method of treatment 

 lo which (hey should be subject. We have had recently, in the 

 lively discus^ion regarding the management of Epping Forest, 

 an illustration of how large is the number of people who have 

 views upon the subject of (he management of woodlands, and 

 how the majority ol theui, if they had their way, would, through 

 ignorance , defeat the very object they desire lo accomplish. We 

 must be prepared in any proposal for utilisation of State forests 

 lo incur the opposition of those who regard all scientific 

 handling of woods as vandalism, although 1 do not know that 

 forestry in itself involves a want of recognition of the beautiful, 

 or dulls the feelings which a sylvan landscape invokes in the 

 minds of ihosc in touch with nature. It is allowed there are 

 areas in our State forests sacred by many nieniories, possessing 

 a grandeur and picturesqueness with which no hand, whether 

 of forester or landscapisl, would venture lo meddle. Hut, on 

 the other hand, there are tracts which without damage lo the 

 natural beauty, and wi(hou( depriving in any sensible degree 

 (he people of their privileges of recreation they pri^e so much, 

 might be and should be dealt with as forest cultivated on sciendlic 

 principles. These might serve as instruction areas, showing all 

 that is bes( for the information of foresters. The creation of 

 some such experimental leaching stations in Stale forests is one 

 of the essentials for foreslry in Briiain. I would go further and 

 say thai the area of State owncrUiiji should be increased lo the 

 extent of the establishment of (ore>t stations, of an acreage 

 sufficient to allow of a satisfactory rotation, in other parts of the 

 country as centres of instruction. There have been, as you are 

 aware, proposals for the afforestation of some of the three 

 million and more acres of waste land in the Highlands of Scot- 

 land capable of growing timber, and we await with some interest 

 the report of the Deer Forest Commission, which has taken 

 evidence on the subject. If, as has been suggested may be 

 possible, afforestation is attempted through any system of State- 

 aided planting, an opjiortunity would be afforded for securing 

 what would be of so much .idvantage lo ihe country. Beyond 

 this system of model experimental stations, the Stale ownership 

 of forest in Bri[ain does not seem (o me to be necessary in the 

 cause of foreslry. 



Replying recently to .Sir John Lubbock in the House of 

 Commons, the ['resident of the Board of Agriculture, after 

 recounting what his Board is now doing for foreslry in Briiain, 

 added : " I shall always be glad lo receive and 10 consider any 

 suggestion for the increase of sound technical knowledge on 

 this subject." Well, now, I have a suggestion lo make. In a 

 practical science like forestry "an increase of sound technical 

 knowledge " can only be possible when facilities for practical 

 instruction are provided. I would, Iherefoie, ask the I'resident 

 to consider what I have just said with regard lo State forest 

 experimental areas. These cannot, of course, be created by a 

 stroke of the i)cn, but the initiative for their formation would 

 naturally come from (he Board of Agriculture. Il is possible 

 that, with betterment in forestry practice, landowners might be 

 found who would be willing to ilevote portions of their land 

 for the purposes of insUucdon, following for foreslry the noble 



