492 WEST AFRICAN FORESTS AND FORESTRY 
to fulfil the conditions outlined before and give free play to all the 
beneficial effects of the forests. 
Taking the proportion of permanent forest to other land in the 
more civilized countries, we get the following ratios :— 
Forest per cent. 
Finland .. ae rae ae 
Russia in Europe 24 5% .. 42 
Austria .. ws ee ae .. 33 
Hungary .. ss ee i .. 29 
Germany .. ee 5 oa .. 26 
France... ie ne a .. 16 
Sweden .. os ee ae .. 42 
Switzerland fe a ar .. 19 
Norway .. we - i .. 25 
US.A.  .. ie 3 i .. 10 
India ste wt re as .. 38 
Special note should be made of the fact that in all these countries 
the agricultural development has gone hand in hand with the preserva- 
tion of the forest, and especially with no detriment to the development 
of agriculture in any direction in which it seemed desirable. Russia 
has, for instance, enormous exports of timber and enormous exports 
of wheat. Austria-Hungary had before the war considerable exports 
of hardwood timber, such as oak, as well as grain, both wheat and 
other kinds. Judging by the experience gained in Germany with its 
hundred and seventy years of forestry practice, a proportion of 25 to 
33 per cent. of the land area of any country can reasonably be retained 
under forest, or afforested if bare. Such a proportion allows sufficient 
timber trees to be grown to cover the large quantities of wood used 
in industrial development and also a considerable surplus for export 
to other countries. 
Turning specifically to the West African Colonies, it would mean, 
out of a total land area of 4,500 square miles, that in the Gambia, for 
instance, an area of between 1,100 and 1,500 square miles should be 
permanently set aside as Forest Reserves or Forest Reserve Affores- 
tation Areas. In the latter case, when all were planted up they would 
gradually become forests. 
In Sierra Leone, with a total land area of 34,000 square miles, the 
area would vary from 8,500 to 11,000 square miles. 
In the Gold Coast, out of a total land area of 80,000 square miles, 
the permanent forest area would vary between 20,000 and 26,000 
‘square miles. 
In the Southern Provinces of Nigeria, with a total area of 79,000 
square miles, the permanent forest area would reach between 19,000 
and 26,000 square miles. 
