CHAPTER III. 



THE AFFORESTATION OF SURPLUS LAND, AND NOTES 

 ON THE TREATMENT OF SOME TYPES OF BRITISH 

 WOODLANDS, 



THE treatment of forests depends on the objects which it 

 is proposed to realise. It rests with the proprietor, in so 

 far as his choice is not limited by the laws of the country, to 

 determine in each case what these objects shall be, and then 

 it becomes the duty of the forester to see that they are realised 

 to the fullest extent and in the most economic manner. This 

 fundamental principle should never be lost sight of. In these 

 islands nearly the whole of the existing woodlands belong to 

 private proprietors. They desire, in the majority of cases, to 

 have the woods so managed that they lend themselves either 

 to landscape beauty, or the rearing of game, or the produc- 

 tion of a particular kind of produce required in the manage- 

 ment of estates. In such cases economic working is beset by 

 considerable difficulties. And yet, even under such conditions, 

 the objects of the proprietors may be realised, and the woods 

 be made to yield, if not a full, at any rate a fair return, while 

 the proprietor must put down any deficiency in the income 

 against his pleasure, or against shooting rents, or the benefits 

 derived by the rest of the estate. 



Where the manager is not hampered in this way, and 

 where economic forestry is aimed at, as it would generally be 

 in the case of extended afforestation of mountain, heath and 

 other waste lands, the question of finance would be of the first 

 importance. The forester must decide what and how to 

 plant, and how to treat his woods, so as to realise the highest 

 possible net returns. The answers to these and other ques- 

 tions practically require a treatise on sylviculture and forest 



F. C 



