with our area of original forest rapidly dimin- 
ishing, we may be nearer to England’s present 
plight than any of us like to think. 
The purpose of this letter is to set forth why 
the British forestry program has come into be- 
ing, with some personal notes on how it is 
working out in practice. Most of the figures 
quoted are from the First Annual Report of 
‘the Forestry Commission [First Annual Report 
of the Forestry Commissioners. Year ending 
Sept. 30, 1920, London, 1921. 60 pp. Published 
July, 1921, by His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 
Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W. C. 2— 
at 10% pence], or from other publications of 
that department. The illustrations are of lo- 
calities personally visited by the writer during 
July and August of the present year. But be- 
fore proceeding to details a word more about 
the general program. 
The money alloted to the “Forestry Fund” is 
to be expended primarily in the acquisition of 
non-agricultural land, suited only to forest pro- 
duction, and in the planting of these areas with 
commercially valuable timber trees. In the 
fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1920, £478,000 were 
made available for the forestry fund by votes 
of Parliament, plus £12,347 received mainly 
from the sale of timber and other forest prod- 
ucts; a total of £490,347. On Sept. 30, 1920 
the Forestry Commission was in occupation of 
a total area of 48,342 acres, of which 1,595 acres 
were planted during that year. Not a bad 
showing for the first season’s work of a newly 
organized government body. 
During the present decade, from 1919 to 1929, 
it is proposed to afforest 150,000 acres, at a 
rate of planting that increases per annum in 
somewhat the following proportion: 
In the year 1919-20, 1,600 acres will be 
planted; in 1920-21, 5,700 acres; in 1921-22, 8,100 
acres; in 1922-23, 11,500 acres; in 1923-24, 
14,800. In the last years of the decade between 
20,000 and 30,000 acres will be planted each 
season. 
It is of particular interest to Americans to 
know that in this huge forest planting program 
large dependance is being placed on two trees 
from our own Pacific coast, Douglas fir and 
Sitka spruce. Other American trees are also 
being used, but to a much less extent. This is 
made possible by the close resemblance in cli- 
matic conditions between the Pacific northwest 
and the British Isles. Of the indigenous spe- 
cies, Scots pine, European larch and Norway 
spruce are the most important; of other exotics 
Corsican pine and Japanese larch. Of the 1,595 
acres planted in 1920, all but 121 acres were 
devoted to conifers. 
The aim of the LUMBER WORLD REVIEW is to 
give news. That is the “story.” Let me now 
fill in some of the details. 
THE REASON FOR A 
BRITISH FOREST POLICY 
England ‘has long been known as a wood im- 
porting country. Because of the close proxi- 
mity of other countries from which ample 
supplies could easily be procured, especially 
those of the Scandinavian peninsula and, of 
‘headed the list of imports. 
late years, of northern Russia, it was not felt 
to be necessary in the United Kingdom to de- 
vote very much systematic attention to the 
home production of timber supplies. This is 
perhaps the more marked because of the fact 
that in India, Great Britain has maintained a 
progressive forestry organization for over 70 
years. But at home England’s merchant ma- 
rine could attend to bringing in timber.’ And 
so it did—until the war. 
The Forestry Commission’s report has a 
significant paragraph on this topic: “Statistics 
gathered. during the ‘period of enquiry’ (1885- 
1915) had made it generally known that: 
“1. Imports of timber had increased five 
fold between 1850 and 1910. 
“2. The consumption per head in the same 
period had risen from 3% cubic feet per annum 
to nearly 11 cubic feet. 
“3. The ratio of home to foreign timber had 
declined, and in 1914 amounted to barely 10 
percent of the supply. 
“4, The price of imported timber had risen 
steadily during the 30 years.before the war, 
while the quality had declined. : 
“That this state of. things was unsatisfactory 
in time of peace was generally admitted. It 
required but one year of war to show how criti- 
cal the position was in a time of national 
emergency. In 1913 the quantities of timber 
and grain imported were about equal, and 
They absorbed be- 
tween them a quarter of the total shipping that 
entered British ports from overseas. In 1916 
the people were hungry, yet despite the most 
strenuous efforts to set more ships free for im- 
porting grain, it was found impossible to re- 
duce even by 1 percent the proportion of 
shipping required to carry the timber essential 
for operations of war abroad and at home.”— 
(Loc. sit. p. 11]. 
Such was the situation that the United King- 
dom faced. Is it any wonder that provision is. 
being made for a three years’ supply, should a 
like emergency ever arise again? 
THE STORY OF 
ITS DEVELOPMENT 
In studying the forest history of Great 
Britain one is struck with three things: 
First—That there were numerous individuals, 
far sighted men, from the 17th century on, who 
predicted danger and who recommended better 
practices. Sir Walter Scott, just about a cen- 
tury ago, in an inimitable essay, “On the Plant- 
ing of Waste Land,’ made suggestions that 
are as sound today as when they were uttered. 
But like the wise recommendations, regarding 
the Adirondack forest, made about the same 
time by Governor De Witt Clinton of New 
York—whose chief claim to present day re- 
membrance is that his picture adorns the rev- 
enue stamps on our cigarette boxes—these 
warnings fell for the most part on unheeding 
ears, 
Second: That as well as individual voices, 
Great Britain has had a series of weighty and 
able reports from one official commission after 
another on various phases of forestry and on 
(10) 
