6o2 



NA TURE 



[April 26, 1894 



forest produce. In our case, forests are certainly not 

 required merely to reduce the air and soil temperatures, 

 or 10 increase the atmospheric humidity ; they may 

 afford useful shelter against the strong westerly gales, or 

 cutting east winds, and in our more mountainous 

 districts they may assist in preventing denudation of the 

 soil, which on a large scale has proved so destructive to 

 agriculture in the Rhone Valley and other regions, but is 

 not very much to be feared in our islands. 



The chief use of forests with us is, therefore, for our 

 timber supply, and to render us more independent than 

 at present of imports of this valuable and bulky material, 

 the inland transport of which is so costly. Our mild 

 moist climate is admirably adapted for producing oak, 

 ash, beech, and other broad-leaved timber, as well as 

 larch, silver fir, Scotch pine and spruce ; and were the 

 land stocked with trees whenever experience shows that 

 it cannot be profitably used for agriculture, our wealth 

 would be considerably increased, and so would be the 

 demands for agricultural labour. 



Exclusive of an import of ^3,000,000 worth of teak, 

 mahogany, and other tropical woods, which we cannot 

 grow ourselves, we also import annually ^12,000,000 

 worth of oak, ash, and coniferous timber, all of which 

 we might grow at home. Dr. Schlich^ has estimated that 

 if 6,000,000 acres of our waste lands were planted, they 

 would eventually yield sufficient timber to render these 

 latter imports unnecessary. It is even probable that a 

 smaller area would suffice, were the productiveness of 

 our existing woodlands increased by better manage- 

 ment. 



This extension and improvement of our woodlands is 

 the more urgent, as the forests of Canada, Scandinavia 

 and Russia, from whence most of our timber imports 

 come, are not sufficiently well managed to secure 

 the production of a steady supply of timber for export. 

 The markets for their timber are also extending in 

 France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States, South 

 Africa, and other insufficiently wooded countries. The 

 following table, comparing the ratio of the woodland 

 area in 1892 of our own and other European countries, 

 with their total area, places us at the bottom of the 

 list: — 



Name of country. 



Austria- Hungary 



Russia 



Germany . 

 Sweden and Norway 

 France 

 Italy . 

 Belgium 

 Holland . 

 Denmark . 

 British Isles 



Area of forests 

 per 1000 acres. 



Remarks. 



Acres. 



343 

 342 



257 

 250 



159 



145 



143 



72 



60 



39 



[ Area of forests less 

 by 102,000 acres 

 [ since 1872. 



Countries import- 

 ing more limber 

 than they export. 



It our present area of woodlands, 3,000,000 acres, were 

 increased by 6,000,000 acres, as proposed by Dr. Schlich, 

 we should still have only 117 acres of woodland per 1000 

 acres total area, and should stand between Belgium and 

 Holland on the list. 



These 6,000,000 acres would chiefly be taken from our 

 unenclosed mountain and heather land, which, in the 

 agricultural returns for 1892, is given as 12,117,000 acres 

 for Great Britain, figures for Ireland apparently not being 

 available. But as in 1880 there were 4^ million acres of 

 waste land in Ireland, it is probably within the mark to 

 estimate the total area of unenc osed mountain and 

 heather land for the United Kingdom at 15 million acres. 



1 " Manual of Forestry," vol. i. p. 65. 



NO. 1278, VOL. 49] 



Much of this land is at present used for pasturing sheep, 

 and leased in the Highlands of Scotland at from one to 

 four shillings an acre, according to quality. Large areas 

 of it are also let as deer forests, the rent being fixed at 

 about ^25 for each stag which may be shot ; and as 2500 

 acres will support about 25 deer, five only of which are 

 mature stags, the rent of average deer forests, exclusive 

 of the buildings on them, cannot be more than one 

 shilling an acre. It is the poorer lands at high altitudes, 

 where sheep pasture does not pay, which are generally 

 let as deer forests. 



The cost of planting or sowing varies considerably 

 according to circumstances, and is given in Brown's 

 "Forester" (1882) as varying between ^[3 and ^10 an acre, 

 according to the nature of the fencing and draining re- 

 quired, which are the chief items. In calculating the 

 returns from a plantation, the initial cost of planting must 

 be reckoned at 2i per cent, compound interest up to the 

 date of felling, and this sum deducted from the proceeds 

 of the felling. Any intermediate proceeds from thinnings 

 will of course be added with interest allowed up to the 

 date of the final felling. 



Before a landowner would venture to plant his land 

 on a large scale, he would have to answer the following 

 questions : — 



Is the land suitable for the successful growth of any 

 particular forest species ; and if so, what are these species, 

 and how should they be grown ? Will the sale of the 

 timber be more profitable than the present rent of the 

 land ? As a rule, most of these rough pasture lands, ex- 

 cept in their moister depressions, are only fit for conifers, 

 and in many cases only for Scotch pine. A large part of 

 the area also is at present stocked with game, and al- 

 though forest growth may be compatible with pheasants, 

 black game, capercailzie, or a moderate number of deer, 

 it certainly cannot be expected to thrive where rabbits 

 abound ; so that the value of the land as a game-preserve 

 will also intervene. 



Experiments might certainly be made to plant up the 

 extensive tracts in the Midlands and elsewhere, which are 

 now encumbered with shale and slag from abandoned 

 ironworks, and which may be bought for an old song. 

 Ash and maple grow well on heaps of slag in the 

 Ardennes, and these species, and probably some others, 

 might certainly be planted on similar areas in our Black 

 Country. It is true that the cultivation of trees will not 

 prosper within a certain distance from factory chimneys 

 belching out sulphurous and other noxious fumes, but 

 means may be adopted to fix the sulphur within the 

 factory, and to prevent the air from being contaminated ; 

 whilst much of the shale and slag is already sufficiently 

 distant from the obnoxious chimneys. 



As regards the increased demands which an extended 

 area of woodlands would afford to labour. Dr. Schlich 

 has calculated that if 6,000,000 acres of our waste lands 

 were planted up at the rate of 300,000 acres a year, this 

 would employ annually some 15,000 labourers, and that 

 eventually, once the forests had been grown, about 100,000 

 labourers would find in them steady employment, besides 

 the large number of hands required by the special forest 

 industries which this large forest area would certainly call 

 into existence. 



Such an industry already exists in the chair-making 

 business of Buckinghamshire. The forests on the Chil- 

 tern Hills supply thousands of people with beech-wood, 

 500,000 cubic feet of which are worked up annually into 

 chairs in the town of High Wycombe and the surround- 

 ing villages. Some of these beech forests are getting 

 thin and unproductive, owing to e.xcessive felling and 

 other bad management ; but wherever a moderate amount 

 of care is taken not to overcut the woods, as much as 

 20s. an acre per annum is obtained, without any expenses 

 for planting, as the beech reproduces itself naturally. 

 The poor dry soil above the chalk, on which the beech 



