6 FORESTRY : WHAT IT IMEANS TO THE NATION 



ports during the next thirty to forty years must largely 

 come from the Russian forests, I deal fully with this 

 subject in Part II. of this book. Next to Russia in 

 importance come Norway and Sweden. These three 

 countries send us the bulk of our supplies of these soft 

 woods, either in the form of split or sawn, planed or 

 dressed logs, or as pitwood for the mines, or as wood 

 pulp, in such large demand for paper-making. 



The question, therefore, presents itself, What 

 effect is the exceptional demand for these soft-wood 

 timbers for house-building, etc., in the devastated 

 countries likely to have on our home market — i.e. 

 on the European timber market — in face of the great 

 competition which it appears must inevitably arise 

 with the advent of other European countries as bidders ? 

 Building timbers will not be the only requirements. 

 Wholesale refurnishing will also make considerable 

 demands on the supplies. Unless very careful ar- 

 rangements are made before the war closes, it ap- 

 pears inevitable that we shall suffer, that our 

 numerous industries which make use of timber of 

 varying quality as a raw material will suffer, to a 

 ruinous extent. 



As a nation we shall be helpless in the timber 

 market, for we have no supplies of our own which, 

 carefully husbanded, would enable us to tide over 

 the next few years. Even in the pitwood market it 

 was calculated in November 1914 that our total re- 

 sources of this material in plantations in the country 

 would be exhausted in two years ! Since the com- 

 mencement of the war feUings and thinnings have 

 been made in many of our woods to take advantage 



