278 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE SYSTEMATIC AFFORESTATION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 

 By Mr. A. D. Webster, F.R.H.S. 



[Read July 15, 1919 ; Mr. W. Hales, A.L.S., in the Chair.] 



In connexion with the proposed Government scheme of afforesting 

 a million and three quarters acres of ground, while strict economy 

 should be exercised and all useless expenditure carefully avoided, 

 nothing should be spared that is really required for the success of 

 the enterprise. A well thought-out and systematic procedure must 

 therefore be instituted, all haphazard work being avoided. Forest 

 produce requires a long time to mature, and it is therefore all the 

 more necessary that a reliable foundation should be laid. In tree- 

 planting it is the falsest economy, under the pretence of cheapness, 

 to buy defective plants, to employ defective methods of planting, 

 or to use species unsuited to the soil and situation. Before actual 

 planting operations are commenced, several preliminaries must be 

 attended to, and they may be dealt with in the following order : — 



1. Distribution of the wooded areas. 



2. Laying out the boundaries. 



3. Fencing. 



4. Clearing the surface of rough-growing vegetation. 



5. Draining where necessary. 



6. Marking off the roadways. 



7. Pitting or otherwise preparing the ground for the reception 

 of the young trees. 



8. Planting. 



There is another important preliminary which in existing circum- 

 stances should receive attention, and that is raising the plants for the 

 afforesting scheme. Little or no foreign seed, on which we have 

 mainly depended in the past, has been sent to this country during 

 the war, and there is a dearth of young forest trees. For this and 

 other reasons, the formation of suitable nurseries and the raising 

 of a considerable portion of the young stock required should have 

 priority over every other operation, as three years, at least, will 

 be required to produce plants of the necessary age and size in 

 sufficient quantity. 



Distribution of the wooded areas. — A fair and equal distribution 

 of the 1,770,000 acres that the Forestry Sub-Committee proposes 

 to afforest will require very careful consideration, and must be largely 

 determined by the amount of waste land that is found in each part 

 of the country. Other matters of minor importance must also receive 

 attention in dealing with this question, such as quality of soil, general 



