THE FUTURE PROBLEM 33 



If the nation is to face the future and retain her 

 position in the world, she will have to husband all her 

 resources. It is no answer that other nations will 

 Hkewise be crippled with debt. Some, Germany for 

 one, are likely to recover more quickly than we shall, 

 if the past is any criterion to the future. In any event, 

 we shall not be able to afford to pay £42,000,000 for 

 forestry products, the bulk of which could be grown 

 at home, on land at present but little productive ; nor 

 shall we get anything like the same amount of material 

 in the future for this sum. In the national interest 

 it would be a crime to neglect any longer the raising 

 of as much timber as possible, on the areas at present 

 producing little or nothing of use to the community. 

 There appears little doubt that public spirit and 

 patriotism alone will render agreement between pro- 

 prietor and Government on this question easy of 

 adjustment. Added to this there is the unfortunate 

 factor that many who before the war were planting 

 on a certain scale may now find themselves unable to 

 bear the expense of such operations. And this at the 

 very time when, in the interest of the nation as a 

 whole, it is most important that planting operations 

 should be extended and carried out on a commercial 

 scale. 



The necessity for undertaking planting operations 

 on a large scale having been accepted, the next step 

 will be to ascertain the number of plants it will be 

 possible to obtain for next season's planting work, 

 and to ensure an adequate supply for the following 

 years. Steps have been already taken, to some extent, 

 in this direction. For instance, extra nurseries — 



