4 



into Scotland, and I should suppose twice that 

 quantity into England. Now, supposing that no 

 more than was necessary for home consumption 

 was reared yearly in these kingdoms, it would yield, 

 at the average prices of oak bark for some years 

 back, the sum of L.400,000 sterling, and its ma- 

 nufacture would employ, from April to September, 

 20,000 labourers at least, and 5,000 constantly ; 

 the profits of this alone divided amongst 100 land- 

 ed proprietors in each of the three kingdoms would 

 employ a vast number of people ; and supposing 

 their wood lands divided into 20 cuttings, and cut 

 annually, would give them a very handsome yearly 

 return. 



I am aware that many proprietors of this kind 

 of land have not the means of the first outlay at 

 their command ; but if government do it, to a 

 larger or smaller extent than that first proposed, 

 and carry the produce as timber trees to maturity, 

 the profits would be beyond what I have already 

 stated. Even were a joint-stock company to em- 

 bark in this plan, I should suppose it worthy the 

 British government to be at the head of it ; the 

 king, the prince, the noblemen, the gentlemen, 

 every landed proprietor, and every lover of his 

 country, to be members thereof. By giving the 

 proprietor, whose land is taken or feued, an inte- 

 rest in the concern, by allowing the rents to lie 

 over for 20 or more years, he would then become 

 a considerable owner, and would have, bj this 

 means, a particular interest in seeing it properly 

 managed. That all kinds of timber equal, and 

 many kinds superior to foreign timber can be rear- 



