144 



the time it takes to grow a tree to a satisfactory log size. Certain kinds of 

 supplies are beginning to give out. Even the white pine resources, 

 which a few years ago seemed so great that to attempt an accurate esti- 

 mate of them was deemed too difficult an undertaking, have since then, 

 become reduced to such small proportion that the end of the whole sup- 

 ply in both Canada and the United States is now plainly in view." 



11. It must be owned that there are those who do not regard the sugges- 

 tion of forest exhaustion as a serious one. They argue that the prophecy 

 is no new one, and yet we are none the worse off than we have been ; 

 that failing supply from one source it has always been possible to tap 

 another, and so it will probably continue ; and then the period when 

 exhaustion is likely to take place is so far off, there is ample time for the 

 growth of new forests to replace those being cut. No doubt there is 

 time. But this is just the kernel of the whole forestry question. With 

 proper conservancy of forest areas, the application of scientific prin- 

 ciples to the recuperation of areas recklessly denuded, and the afforesta- 

 tion of barren and waste lands, timber sufficient to meet a greater de- 

 mand than is now made could be produced. This is the aim of scientific 

 forestry, and it is to secure this that those who have given attention to 

 the subject are working, conceiving it to be a duty of this generation 

 tc hand down to its successors a heritage no less valuable than that 

 which it received. 



1 2. "With an acreage of wooded land amounting to only 4 per cent 

 of their total area, Great Britain and Ireland possess a smaller prop or" 

 tion so covered that any other European country. Denmark comes near 

 with only about 5 per cent., in France the percentage rises to 15, in 

 Norway and Germany to 25, in Austria -Hungary to 30, whilst in 

 feweden the amount is over 40 per cent. The United States is estimated 

 to have about 25 per cent. These figures do not, however, give a fair 

 basis of comparison of the amount of timber area in Great Britain with 

 other countries, inasmuch as in the continental lands the bulk of the 

 woodlands is true forest, whilst a large part of the area included in 

 the British return is merely pleasure ground, and another large portion 

 is only plantation; of real forest the area is extremely limited. It is 

 not surprising, then, that we are not able to furnish ourselves with an 

 adequate supply of timber. But although there is so little land under 

 wood, there are thousands of acres unsuited for any other crop, and these 

 for reasons I have already indicated, it is desirable to have planted. How 

 to have this accomplished, and how to secure that woodlands already 

 existing shall be tended so as to produce a maximum result, giving a 

 profitable return, are the problems we wish to see solved. 



13. It will conduce to appreciation of the question if I briefly dis- 

 cuss the causes which have been active in developing the present con- 

 dition of woodlands in Britain, and in bringing about the disparity be- 

 tween it and other countries in respect of woodland area. 



14. State ownership of continental forests will probably occur to most 

 people as the reason for the difference in area just pointed out. This is 

 true with, however, some qualification. In consequence of the circum- 

 stances of their situation continental States have been compelled to re- 

 cognise the national economic importance of forests. This they have 

 done, not so much by the creation of State ownership in vast forests as 



