THE NEW FORESTRY. 35 



It was the general conviction existing that forest management 

 in the three kingdoms was of the wrong kind, and our woodlands 

 unremunerative, that suggested the appointment of a Select 

 Committee on Forestry by the House of Commons in 1885, 

 and no one can read the evidence given before the Committee 

 without coming to the conclusion that that • conviction was 

 well founded, the evidence revealing not only a deplorable 

 state of things in the management of woods, but irreconcilable 

 differences of opinion among professed experts in British 

 forestry. The - report of the Select Committee contains 

 a number of suggestions, but its general conclusions are 

 summed up in the following paragraph to the effect 

 that, " Apart from the question of actual profit derived 

 from tree planting, its importance as an accessory to 

 agriculture is shown by the effects which woods have 

 in affording shelter and improving the climate ; and your 

 Committee are of opinion that, whilst on public and national 

 grounds timber cultivation on a more scientific system should 

 be encouraged, landowners might make their woods more 

 remunerative were greater attention paid to the selection of 

 trees suitable to different soils and to more skilful management 

 after the trees are planted." Some luke-warm supporters of 

 the Continental system, while admitting that our home forestry 

 is more or less a commercial failure, suggest that owners of 

 estates will object because, the Continental system makes no 

 provision for ornamental features, has no respect for 

 sentiment, and that hence, British proprietors, rather than 

 trust their woods to the new forester, will prefer to go on in 

 the old way, with all its imperfections. This is a narrow and 

 mistaken view that we feel sure not many entertain. As 

 regards ornamental planting, the Continental system does not 

 prohibit the laying out of woods or forests in an ornamental 

 manner, so far as their distribution is concerned. It does 

 certainly advocate the planting of poor waste lands in prefer- 

 ence to lands that can be more profitably devoted to other 

 purposes ; but the system can be carried out on good lands, 

 in the ornamental style, just as easily as on bad ones, by 

 those who are so disposed. Better methods of planting, 

 rotation, and the production of trees of the right shape and 

 quality, are surely no hindrance to ornamental planting, and 

 can mean no disrespect to sentiment. German forests, many 

 of them, are scenes of sylvan beauty, established on lands 

 which, without the forests, would often resemble those dreary 

 wastes of moorland and bog so common in England. If a 



