January, 1912.] 



85 



Timbers, 



relation with water-supply or with 

 areas under agricultural cultivation was 

 almost unperceived. Even to-day in 

 India the scientific aspects of forestry 

 are only fully recognised by very few 

 experts. In an admirable paper by 

 Mr. Eardley-Wilmot, late Inspector- 

 General of Forests in India, recently 

 read before the Royal Society of Arts, 

 it was pointed out that the report of 

 the Irrigation Commission takes abso- 

 lutely no notice of the relation of forests 

 to the subject under inquiry. That is 

 an extraordinary omission which reveals 

 the perils of over-specialisation. Prac- 

 tically one-fourth of the Indian Empire 

 is under forest, though all land labelled 

 "forest reserve" is not necessarily 

 covered with timber. The forests are 

 useful for the protection of catchment 

 areas, the maintenance of perennial 

 streams, and the storing of moisture, 

 and so have a very direct connection 

 with irrigation. Yet the Irrigation 

 Commission sinned in good company, 

 for it is on record that at one time 

 the Government of India actually tried 

 to sell outright the forests of the 

 Central Provinces. In Mr. Eardley- 

 Wilmot's opinion, the day may still 

 come when the Central Provinces 

 forests may be as valuable as those of 

 Burma. The real father of India fores- 

 try was the late Sir Dietrich Brandis. 

 and under the policy he initiated the 

 Indian Forest Department has, in spite 

 of some shortcomings, done much solid 

 work. It came into an almost ruined 

 inheritance, lor from the time of the 

 Aryan invasion down to the final 

 Musalman irruption the forests of India 

 had been neglected and laid waste. 

 Large tracts of country in India are out 

 of cultivation to-day owing to the ruth- 

 less destruction of trees in bygone 

 years ; but though the Forest Depart- 

 ment has to rely almost entirely on the 

 natural reproduction of the forests, and 

 can therefore never hope to repair much 

 of the evil wrought in the past, it has 

 effectually wiped out the reproach of 

 neglect. 



So far as England is concerned, the 

 modest grant assigned by Mr. Lloyd 

 George for experiments in afforestation 

 is one of the few features of the Budget 

 which arouses little contention. The 

 gigantic progressive outlay recom- 

 mended by the Royal Commission on 

 afforestation cannot be contemplated 

 without careful preliminary investig- 

 ation. For the backward condition of 

 Canada in regard to scientific forestry 

 there is much reasonable excuse. The 

 rainfall and water-supply of Canada are 

 not seriously affected, and the vast 



areas under timber have possibly justi- 

 fied a somewhat reckless process of 

 clearance, which cannot, however, con- 

 tinue indefinitely except under scienti- 

 fic direction. The successful inaugur- 

 ation of a large pulp and paper-making 

 industry in Newfoundland has so far 

 led the island State to realise the value 

 of its forest resources that an import- 

 ant conference is about to meet ad St. 

 John's to consider questions of forest 

 conservation. Nova Scotia is now taking 

 the wise preliminary step of preparing 

 an "inventory" of its forest wealth. It 

 is melancholy to have to add that no- 

 where in the Empire is less practical 

 attention paid to scientific forestry than 

 in Australia, the country of all others 

 where forest administration should be 

 regarded as of the highest importance. 

 The only plea that can be advanced in 

 behalf of the Commonwealth and the 

 State Governments is that they are 

 almost overwhelmed by the many 

 urgent questions simultaneously demand- 

 ing their attention. Yet the need tor 

 a careful consideration of forest prob- 

 lems in Australia is very pressing. The 

 wanton sacrifice of timber in every 

 Australian State will certainly bring 

 retribution if it is not checked. In no 

 country within the Empire is scientific 

 forestry less understood ; in no country 

 is a wise forest policy more imperatively 

 required, Mr. Newton Moore, the able 

 Premier of Western Australia, has just 

 arrived in this country to make known 

 the growing attractions of his State as a 

 field for immigration. Mr, Moore no 

 doubt is well aware that the fertility of 

 the new wheat beit which he so justly 

 extols depends to a large extent upon 

 the influence on climate and rainfall of 

 the forests between the wneat belt and 

 the sea. Forest conservation in Western 

 Australia is, however, still in its infancy, 

 as in all the States of the Common- 

 wealth. The value of the plantations, 

 moreover, as a shield for the crops from 

 hot parching winds in certain areas is 

 still disregarded ; and most of the 

 smaller Australian townships elect to 

 remain gaunt and unkempt when they 

 might easily be embowered in trees. Id 

 is not, however, for aesthetic reasons, 

 but for severely practical purposes, that 

 a closer study of forestry is required in 

 a continent of such uncertain rainfall. 

 The system of "dry farming," so earn- 

 estly advocated lecently in Australia by 

 Senator McColl, is no doubt worth care- 

 ful attention in comparatively arid dis- 

 tricts ; but in Australia, as in India, 

 forestry should find a foremost place in 

 all movements for inci easing the pro« 

 duutivity of the laud, 



