22 THE SAD PLIGHT OF BKITISH FORESTRY 



for thirty acres or so of Scots fir and larch, growing on a 

 remote corner of the estate. I rode up to look at the 

 trees : they were about ninety years old, and better grown 

 than most on our exposed seaboard. Unluckily, it was 

 a lovely autumn day: the wood looked so gracious a 

 roebuck stood so picturesquely in a sunny glade where 

 the heather was in bloom the whole scene was so be- 

 witching, that I had not the heart to order its destruction. 

 The trees were spared, but I never stood among them 

 again. The gales of 1882-83 made a clean sweep of that 

 wood, and I had to content myself with 100 for the 

 wreck. 



One effect of the establishment of well-directed State 

 forests, indirect, but exceedingly important both in a 

 national and individual point of view, would be the 

 creation of a standard of management ; a model of good 

 forestry which would speedily effect a revolution upon 

 private estates. At the present time there is no such 

 standard or model, if it be not in the far north, among 

 the splendid woodlands of some of our great Highland 

 proprietors. It is possible now to obtain from these 

 estates well-trained, experienced men; but most land- 

 owners elsewhere show disinclination to pay them in 

 proportion to their attainments. Mr. Nisbet quotes the 

 case of a landowner who turns upwards of 1000 a year 

 from his woods, and pays his forester 15s. a week ! Of 

 course, this is a highly exceptional case. Few landowners 

 receive any profit from their woods at all ; the balance of 

 the account is generally far the other way; but those 

 who do manage to make the ends more than meet will 

 not hesitate to pay well for a competent man. 



Further, the establishment by the State of the forestry 



