JANUARY 7 



time, the native timber which meets with the readiest 

 sale in Scotland, and at the highest price, is that of 

 sycamore. Writers in the first half of last century set 

 small store by it. ' The timber of our sycamore,' wrote 

 Cobbett, 'is white and soft, and not valuable by any 

 means.' But it is now in so much request by calico 

 printers and, I believe, carpet manufacturers that bolls 

 measuring twelve inches on the square readily fetch from 

 2s. 6d. to 5s. a foot, according to distance from a railway 

 or harbour. On the other hand the demand and price 

 for poplar, so much in request for railway wagons fifty 

 years ago, have fallen off considerably. Still, in spite of 

 these changes in value, it is hard to conceive any stage 

 of civilisation when the timber of mature oak, ash, elm, 

 Scots fir and larch will fail to command a remunerative 

 price. 



When we turn to consider the general quality of the 

 timber grown in our three million acres of woodland, the 

 prospect is even more discouraging than the deficiency 

 in extent. The average English landowner knows nothing 

 of economic forestry; but he knows all that is to be 

 known about shooting; he has also a fine taste for great 

 trees, which it is only dire necessity can induce him to 

 sacrifice. Now the combination of these two motives 

 desire for game and pride in great trees has wrought 

 the ruin of English woodland from the forester's point 

 of view. Clean, long stems, such as one may see in the 

 well-managed Foret de Blois, or, still more admirable, in 

 the fine oak wood between Blois and Cour-Cheverny, are 

 incompatible, except on soils of exceptional character, 

 with thick undercover for game, because they can only 

 be obtained by growing trees so close together as to 



