86 FORESTRY IN GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



farmer and his family during winter when they would otherwise 

 be idle. In these cases, forestry and the industries based on it can 

 help. By afforesting mountain and heath land the amount of 

 labour will be considerably increased as compared with Ught 

 grazing, thus enabhng the small holder to exist in decent comfort. 

 Forestry fits in with farm work better than any other industry, as 

 most of its work can be done in winter when the farm requires 

 little attention. It should not be overlooked that afforestation 

 can be made a means of deahng to some extent with the formidable 

 question of the unemployed. 



The question as to how far afforestation leads to an increase of 

 national wealth deserves consideration. Such increase may be 

 effected in a variety of ways, such as higher returns from the land, 

 or, to express it differently, by a higher rate of interest yielded by 

 the invested capital, by the increased safety of the country in case 

 of an emergency, the more economic utilization of the land not 

 required for agriculture or other useful purposes, the development 

 of industries using forest produce as their raw material, the extra 

 amount of work provided, the retention of capital in the country 

 and, last but not least, the amelioration of the conditions of life in 

 the poorer parts of the country. 



4. Replacement of Imported by Home-Grown Timber. 



Before formulating a new forest poUcy for the future, it is 

 necessary to consider whether, and to what extent, home-grown 

 timber can be substituted for imported timber. 



An analysis of the official returns of timber imported in 1913, 

 the last complete year before the war, shows that the main classes 

 of timber were represented in the following proportion :- - 



Coniferous timber and pitwood together amounted to 90 per cent. 



