IMPROVED BRITISH FORESTRY 331 
acres of the forest land had been lying waste there 
simply because two clauses of the Act of 1877 
prohibited clearing and planting being done. 
One peculiar feature of Forestry in Britain 
has previously been remarked on (p. 269), namely, 
that landowners have hitherto usually entered 
on an investment of this permanent nature with- 
out obtaining such professional advice as they 
would, as a matter of course, seek in invest- 
ments of any other nature. And a further 
development of this same national peculiarity, 
this ‘waste simply by not pursuing scientific 
methods,’ as Lord Rosebery put it, this neglect 
of the business side of Forestry, is that the men 
placed in charge of the woods, besides having 
as yet no opportunity of obtaining sound and 
comprehensive technical instruction, practical as 
well as theoretical, are enormously underpaid 
considering the responsibilities some of them 
must have. Take, for example, a case men- 
tioned recently at the Surveyors’ Institution, in 
which one landowner in particular, who is getting 
more than a thousand pounds a year out of his 
woods, pays his forester 15s. a week! Now, at 
3 per cent. this income would indicate a capital 
