2 REPORT S.A.A. ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



succession of glacial and semi-tropical periods have never been cut 

 off from the great forest region of the North. Up to comparatively 

 recent times England was rich in forests. Caesar found Oak and 

 Beech in the South, Scotch-pine in the North and nearly the whole 

 country a vast forest. There was still good forest when William the 

 Conqueror came, but he had to resort to, perhaps necessarily, severe 

 measures, to obtain the compact area in the South the " New 

 Forest." What finally destroyed the forest wealth of England was 

 the confiscation of the rich Church forests in the time of Henry VIIL 

 At that time the nobles were powerful, the people and the national 

 sentiment of modern times were weak. Nearly all the confiscated 

 Church forests went to the nobles, and shared the eventual fate of 

 all private forests; that is to say, gradual destruction. On the Conti- 

 nent of Europe the rich Church forests were not confiscated until the 

 troublous times of the French Revolution at the beginning of 1800. 

 When taken from the Church which had preserved them intact for 

 centuries, they were given, not to the nobles as in England, but to 

 the people of the country. Hence we see the curious contrast of 

 to-day, no National Forests and no Scientific Forestry in England ; 

 on the Continent of Europe great and increasing forest wealth. The 

 forests of Germany occupy one quarter of its total surface and their 

 capitalized value is reckoned at 900 million pounds sterling. Great 

 Britain and Ireland in Forestry occupy the lowest position among the 

 States of Europe, being one per cent, worse off than Portugal : 



Percentage of Woodlands. 



Russia in Europe ... ... . . 36 "j 



Austria ... ... ... ... 30; Scientifically 



Germany ... ... ... ... 26 ! conserved 



Switzerland ... ... ... 19 / and 



France ... ... 17 \ permanent. 



Portugal ... ... ... ... 5 J 



Great Britain and Ireland ... ... 4 I D1 Pa !" k f S ' small f 



* j Plantations, etc. 



The average proportion of Forest on the Continent of Europe 

 is calculated at 29^ per cent. 



FORESTRY IN THE BRITISH ISLES. 



In no particular is the insular isolation of England seen more 

 than in the matter of forests. To-day England is paying in round 

 numbers twenty million pounds sterling yearly for timber that could 

 be produced twice or perhaps thrice over within the limits of the 

 British Isles if the ancient forests were restored. When we consider 

 that, in the more settled time before the late Boer war, the total cost 

 of the Army was ,24,000 and of the National debt 25,000 it will be 

 seen that this forest question in England is the great question of the 

 future. It must come prominently forward in the near future in 



