TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D, 671 



10,000 feet B.M. of saw timber — a most extravagant averap^e — we would, with our 

 present consumption, have hardly one hundred years of supply in sight, the time 

 it takes to grow a tree to a satisfactory log size. Certain kinds of supplies are 

 ■beginning to give out. Even the white pine resources, which a few years ago 

 seemed so great that to attempt an accurate estimate of them was deemed too 

 difficult an undertaking, have, since then, become reduced to such small proportions 

 that the end of the whole supply in both Canada and the United States is now 

 plainly in view.' 



It' must be owned that there are those who do not regard the suggestion of 

 forest exhaustion as a serious one. They argue that the prophecy is no new one, 

 and yet we are none the worse off than we have been ; that failing supply from one 

 source it has always been possible to tap another, and so it will probably con- 

 tinue ; and then, the period when exhaustion is likely to take place is so far off, 

 there is ample time for the growth of new forests to replace those being cut. No 

 doubt there is time. But this is just the kernel of the whole forestry question. 

 With proper conservancy of forest areas, the application of scientific principles to 

 the recuperation of areas recklessly denuded, and the aftbrestation of barren and 

 waste lands, timber sufficient to meet a greater demand than is now made could be 

 produced. This is the aim of scientific forestry, and it is to secure this that those 

 who have given attention to the subject are working, conceiving it to be a duty of 

 this generation to hand down to its successors a heritage no less valuable than that 

 which it received. 



With an acreage of wooded land amounting to only 4 per cent, of their total 

 area, Great Britain and Ireland possess a smaller proportion so covered than any 

 other European country. Denmark comes near with only about 5 per cent., iu 

 France the percentage rises to 15, in Norway and Germany to 25, in Austria- 

 Hungary to 30, whilst in Sweden the amount is over 40 per cent. The United 

 States is estimated to have about 25 per cent. These figures do not, however, give 

 a fair basis of comparison of the amount of timber area in Great Britain with 

 other countries, inasmuch as in the Continental lands the bulk of the woodlands is 

 true forest, whilst a large part of the area included in the British return is merely 

 pleasure ground, and another large portion is only plantation ; of real forest the 

 area is extremely limited. It is not surprising, then, that we are not able to 

 furnish ourselves with an adequate supply of timber. But although there is so 

 little land under wood, there are thousands of acres unsuited for any other crop, 

 and these, for reasons I have already indicated, it is desirable to have planted. 

 How to have this accomplished, and how to secure that woodlands already existing 

 shall be tended so as to produce a maximum result, giving a profitable return, are 

 the problems we wish to see solved. 



It will conduce to appreciation of the question if I briefly discuss the causes 

 which have been active in developing the present condition of woodlands in Britain, 

 and in bringing about the disparity between it and other countries in respect of 

 woodland area. 



State ownership of Continental forests will probably occur to most people as the 

 reason for the difference in area just pointed out. This is true with, however, some 

 qualification. In consequence of the circumstances of their situation Continental 

 States have been compelled to recognise the national economic importance of forests. 

 This they have done, not so much by the creation of State ownership in vast forests 

 as by the organisation of a State Department of Forestry and a State system of 

 forestry education. It is altogether a mistake to suppose, as is often the case, that 

 the whole or even a large part of the forests on the Continent belong to the respec- 

 tive States. The amount of State-owned forest is surprisingly small. Fernow gives 

 it in Germany as about 33 per cent, of the whole forest area, in Scandinavia 15 

 to 20 per cent., in France some 10 per cent., in Switzerland 4 per cent., whilst in 

 Italy it is not 2 per cent. The bulk of the forest is in the hands of private owners 

 or corporate bodies, subject, though apparently not always, to some control or 

 limitation by the State. But the example of the States in the management of their 

 own woods, their readine.ss to give advice through their officials, and the education 

 which is carefully provided for those concerned in forestry work, have resulted in 



