i0° - 



THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Vol. XVII. No. 4. 



JULY, 1910. 



COOMBE PLANTATION, KESWICK : 

 A Successful Plantation at a High Altitude. 



R. L. Robinson, B.A., B.Sc, and A. Lindsay Watt, F.S.I. 



One of the greatest difficulties which faces foresters in 

 Great Britain is the lack of data on which to base calcula- 

 tions. The immediate cause of this deficiency is two-fold. 

 In the first place, close accounts have not, save in exceptional 

 cases, been kept of the cost of formation and of tending 

 plantations which are now coming under the axe, and in the 

 second place accurate records have not been made of the 

 intermediate and final yields in produce and money. It is, 

 therefore, impossible to tell, except in the vaguest terms, 

 whether the operations have been a failure or success from a 

 financial point of view. 



It is not too much to say, then, that the most urgent need 

 in connection with forestry in Britain is the collection and 

 co-ordination of statistics in order that the State or the land- 

 lord may be able to estimate with some degree of certainty 

 the costs which will have to be met during every period from 

 the formation of the wood onwards, and the returns which 

 may be expected from period to period under given condi-' 

 tions of soil, climate, aspect, elevation, and so on. 



While .it is perfectly true that complete detailed accounts 

 have been kept of very few woods, yet there must be scattered 

 over the length and breadth of these islands many woods of 

 i which partial accounts are available ; and if all such data 

 could be gathered together it should be possible to form 



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