40 ±Mr. Arthur Denne on 



in Ireland in the 18th century before railways were built. Our 

 canal system has fallen largely into disuse and would need to be 

 put in order while other canals should be made. Making new 

 canals would help to drain much bogland, and in this way a 

 good deal of land might be reclaimed and made fertile. By 

 means of a proper water carriage system, Ireland could in the 

 future transport timber, at a cheap rate, for home consumption. 



Forests provide employment in rural districts. They there- 

 fore contribute to the prosperity of the people, besides having a 

 good influence upon the social well-being of the rural population, 

 so lessening the desire to migrate to -towns. Forests are good 

 friends to the farmer. They give him pleasant home surround- 

 ings ; provide him with timber near at hand for his buildings and 

 implements ; protect his land from erosion and flooding ; and, 

 as shelter belts, the trees afford beneficial effect against winds 

 and storms for his stock and crop. 



Agriculture gives a quick return, but with forests there is 

 a long delay, and the policy should be arranged for a continuous 

 supply. The quickest return in forestry is provided by osier 

 beds, and where land exists upon farms too swampy for meadows 

 farmers would do well to transform them into osier beds to 

 replace the decreased imports of osier rods and basket-ware 

 caused by the war, while the tree willow, Salix ccBui'lea should 

 be grown along rivers valleys and ditches to produce wood for 

 cricket bats. During the war there has been great demand 

 for willow wood for the manufacture of artificial limbs. Rocky, 

 or poor dry waste lands should be turned into wood plots, if only 

 to prevent barren areas being a menace to the rest of the farm. 

 No farmer can afford to have unprofitable land any more than 

 he can afford to keep as " boarders " unprofitable coavs. 



One must not forget the good work which has been 

 accomplished by private enterprise, especially in Scottish wood- 

 lands, yet, if forests are to be given the indefinite preservation 

 that is necessary, afforestation can be better handled by 

 the State Forests must be regarded as a community asset, 



