KERRY WOODS. 47 



ground can then be mapped into its suitability for various species, 

 and planted up according- to a pre-arranged scheme. The survey- 

 ing can in such case be carried out by experienced local foresters. 

 The method precludes the employment of a permanent staff for 

 the work, since without a proper study of local conditions a man 

 cannot efficiently survey land. Without a permanent staff there 

 arises a difficulty in co-ordination and a danger that a future 

 generation may regard the work with suspicion. 



This method gives no financial basis to go upon, and puts the 

 whole business on an uncertain footing. 



(2) The second method is to investigate the commercial aspect 

 of afforestation in a district, and to start the work of surveying 

 or scheduling the land on the basis of accurate information. There 

 is in such case a check on the personal proclivities of the surveyor, 

 and the work is founded on recorded facts. A permanent staff, 

 assisted by local foresters, is necessary. It is on the lines of this 

 method that the work at Kerry has been carried on. 



Consideration of the whole question leads to the following con- 

 clusions : 



In a forestry survey the determination of the area of land which 

 will grow trees well is only one of a number of important points. 

 A survey in a district presupposes that some scheme of afforesta- 

 tion may follow. Hence the survey should supply as much as 

 possible of the information which is necessary for the framing 

 of such a scheme. The difficulties which will be encountered in 

 framing a scheme are briefly these : 



(1) The determination of the area and distribution of the land 

 available. 



(2) The forecast of the financial results. 



(3) The disturbances created in putting the scheme into 

 operation. 



A 'survey must strive to solve these difficulties as far as may be 

 possible, and there is only one way of doing this, viz., the collection 

 and analysis of statistics in the district and its neighbourhood. 

 The safest basis for the estimation of the volume of timber which 

 will be produced on a given piece of land is the volume which it 

 has carried under a previous and similar crop. From this degree 

 of accuracy one passes step by step to the comparison of bare 

 and wooded areas side by side, and finally to the bare hillside 

 with no indicating woods, at any rate of a satisfactory character, 

 for miles around. 



The collection of statistics of the sort gathered at Kerry will 

 place the surveyor in the position that he will be able to indicate 

 three broad types of land : 



(1) Land on which afforestation should under proper manage- 

 ment prove a success. 



(2) Land on which success is doubtful owing to lack of sufficient 



