land. 



APPENDIX 325 



It may be asked where the land to plant is to come from. Proposals to 



™, , . re-afforest Eng- 



1 he reply is easy. land and ire- 



Out of 56 million acres in Great Britain, there are only 16 million 

 under crops and 16 million pasture, leaving a balance of 24 million 

 acres of waste mountain, heath, and moor, a good deal of which is 

 of small economic value, and admirably suitable for timber 

 growing. In Ireland there are 4 million acres under crops, 11 

 million pasture, and the balance of 6 million is almost all barren 

 bog and mountain. According to the Recess Committee, 

 3 million of these are available for planting. Mr. Hutchins puts 

 the amount of forest to be taken under State management, in 

 order to supply timber at home, as 9 million acres. Dr. Schlich 

 puts it at 6 million for the three kingdoms, which would leave 

 ample areas for sheep-grazing, which the importation of frozen 

 mutton renders less profitable. Sheep land gives employment to 

 perhaps one shepherd on 1,000 acres, which, if under forest, would 

 pay four times the present rent, and give employment to a very 

 large population.* 



Land which is so poor in quality as to be almost worthless for 

 agriculture, will grow very fine timber. Chemical research has 

 shown that the mineral and chemical constituents in the soil 

 required to grow an acre of field crops is 235 lb., while on an acre 

 growing trees for timber, only 19 lb. is required yearly. Of the 

 substances potash and phosphates, trees require one-twentieth only 

 of the quantity required by field crops (Schlich's 'Manual,' p. 200). 

 It may be asked, How is the State to find the one million a year 

 which, according to Mr. Hutchins' scheme, is required to plant the 

 proper amount of land — 300,000 acres yearly — to rehabilitate the 

 forests? The reply is, In exactly the same way that money is 

 found for any other profitable investment ; but as the State will be 

 the ultimate gainer both in annual revenue and the building up of 

 an enormous property of immense capital value, which indi- 

 viduals could not live long enough to profit by, so the State, 

 which can borrow at the lowest rate, can with advantage find the 

 money. This is not only perfectly sound finance, but it is an 

 imperative duty of the State, which will have to be performed 

 sooner or later, as timber from abroad comes to an end. It is 



* The chair-making industry in the beech-woods of Buckinghamshire 

 employs 30,000 people. 



