22 



JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



the difference in value between roughly-grown and clean-grown 

 timber of the same kind is so great as to at any time turn the 

 scale either way. And this difference is one entirely under the 

 control of the forester. The cost of producing a crop of timber 

 under any given conditions could, I believe, be very nearly 

 reckoned, and the value of the crop under an exact and clearly 

 denned system of culture could also be estimated fairly well 

 beforehand, for the number of trees to the acre, their kind, their 

 bulk, and value at a given period are problems not difficult to work 

 out where the wants of the locality are known. While railways 

 exist, Yorkshire and Lancashire mills continue to run, mines to be 

 worked, agricultural implements and appliances to be used, houses 

 to be built and furnished, and all the multifarious needs of the 

 community to be supplied, the demand for home-grown timber, 

 such as Oak, Ash, Sycamore, Beech, Larch and other Firs, Elm, 

 Birch, &c, will continue to be great, and the prices fairly re- 

 munerative — that is to say, if past experience goes for anything. 

 There has never been any difficulty about selling good timber 

 whenever it has been reasonably accessible to the purchaser. 

 The Government returns are silent about the quantity of home- 

 grown timber that goes down annually, although it would be 

 easy enough to get such returns ; but there is no doubt about 

 the quantity being enormous, and greatly in excess of the re- 

 planting done. You may sometimes notice advertised in the 

 trade journals lots of timber at one sale on single estates, com- 

 prising from 7,000 to over 10,000 trees (trees, remember, not 

 feet), and you may notice that such sales are repeated year 

 after year. Multiply the trees by 20 to roughly find the feet ; 

 then reckon approximately the number of sales that take place 

 all over England all the year round, and you will have some 

 idea of what is going on in the home timber trade now, and 

 realise what is possible when I state that the turnover could 

 be immensely increased if we had a greater variety of timber 

 to sell and more of it. What profit might be expected from 

 crops of timber on poor lands must always depend upon situation 

 and circumstances and the cost of production, but that the 

 margin might generally reach 3 per cent., and considerably 

 more for good crops of certain kinds, I have little doubt — that 

 is, under the maximum number of trees to the acre according 

 to age and dimensions. I should fear bad management far more 



