PITWOOD REQUIREMENTS 179 



Of the amounts of timber and pitwood available in 

 these islands to fill the gap made in the imports, it is 

 not at present easy to speak.* There is no forest law 

 in this country, and therefore no power to compel the 

 f eUing, in the interests of the nation, of areas of woods 

 in private ownership, as is the case in many Conti- 

 nental countries. Nor is there any evidence that 

 such a law would be necessary in Britain. The diffi- 

 culty in the past has been to find a good market for 

 the produce of the woods. With a market at the door 

 there can be little doubt of the willingness and patriotic 

 spirit of proprietors to take advantage of it. It has 

 been estimated by one large Scottish colliery proprietor 

 that he would require about 200 acres per annum of 

 fair, well-grown Scots fir, forty to fifty years old, for 

 his needs. And he further estimated the total Scottish 

 colliery requirements at 6,000 acres of the same 

 material per annum. It has not been stated whether 

 the calculation is based on Continental methods of 

 growth or on British ones — a matter of some import- 

 ance, since the British woods as grown in the past 

 carry far less per acre than is the case with the better- 

 grown woods of the Continent. The estimated average 

 annual requirements would thus be probably nearer 

 8,000 acres per annum. And this is for pitwood 

 alone ! 

 In conclusion, there is one other point which may 



' Inquiries by the English Board of Agriculture, published in 

 November 1914, on the subject of the amount of pitwood available 

 in England and Wales estimate 7,900,000 tons standing in the 

 woods, of which 3,800,000 tons could be exploited by extraordinary 

 fellings. This would supply the demand for one year, the total 

 amount available only supplying the requirements of two years. 



