PROPRIETORSHIP OF THE LAND. 21 



3. Proprietorship of the Land. 



There exists one great difficulty, inasmuch as the bulk of 

 the mountain and heath land is private property. In some 

 cases the proprietors are not inclined to plant, and in others 

 they are hard up, and cannot afford to meet the initial 

 expense of planting, or forego the present small income from 

 the land until the plantations commence to yield a return. The 

 question thus arises, what can be done to overcome the difficulty. 

 There are various ways of meeting the case : 



1. The State may encourage afforestation by private pro- 



prietors, by providing the means of education in rational, 

 economic forestry, and by making advances at a low 

 rate of interest to proprietors who are short of cash. 



2. The State may acquire surplus lands and afforest them. 



3. Municipalities may acquire surplus lands and convert them 



into communal or corporation forests. 



a. Private Proprietors. 



All three agencies ought to be put into motion, but as matters 

 stand we must look chiefly to the first one. As far as educa- 

 tion in forestry goes, the State gives already small subsidies to 

 certain establishments ; but these might with advantage be 

 increased, so that landed proprietors, their sons, and land 

 agents may have an opportunity of becoming acquainted with 

 the principles of economic forestry at the establishments where 

 they go for their education that is to say, at the principal 

 universities and agricultural colleges. In addition, elementary 

 schools for working foresters should be established in various 

 parts of the country. The total expenditure under this head 

 need not frighten the tax-payer. 



It seems of the utmost importance that arrangements 

 should be made to give advances to landed proprietors, who 

 are willing to plant but unable to meet the initial expenses, 

 at the rate of interest at which Government can borrow plus 



