THE RED DEER 
only existence. As Mr Malcolm observes, “ the crofter and his family 
remain what they have always been, the slaves of a hopeless, unrewarding 
land system, which imposes upon them unremitting toil and constant 
struggle with the inclemency of the climate and the infertility of the soil.” 
This new awakening on the part of the young Highlanders is principally 
due to the spread of education; their eyes, so long closed, are now open, 
and they take a larger view of life and its opportunities for bettering their 
lot. Hence the abandonment of the native valleys and the failure of the 
Crofting Land System. 
Again, too, we have heard much about forestry as a power to re-establish 
the people in the Scottish Highlands, and the matter has received the 
attention of Parliament, which, in 1885, 1902, 1907 and 1910, appointed 
various commissions to study the question and make reports. A Depart- 
ment of Forestry is advocated on the grounds that the supply of timber 
is rapidly diminishing and that the demand is in excess of the supply. 
That may be so, but first of all it must be proved that we are able to grow 
timber of commercial value in Scotland (elsewhere in the British islands 
scarcely enters this argument) at a cheaper rate than we can import it from 
the Scandinavian forests and other countries. To make timber a success 
a Highland laird, even if he has the means to make a great outlay at the 
start, and ground that is not too high on which to plant, will have to wait 
at least seventy years before he reaps any profit, and this he cannot do, 
as Mr Malcolm remarks, “ without sacrifice of other interests, which are 
of no less importance.” Moreover, any raiser of trees in this country 
will shortly have to compete with an immense quantity of exported timber 
of the highest quality which will shortly come to this country from British 
Columbia when the Panama Canal is opened in 1914. That is a point which 
seems to have been overlooked by all recent advocates of reafforestation 
in this country, and having recently seen these vast virgin forests stretching 
unbroken from Vancouver to the Alaskan boundary, a distance of over 
1,000 miles, I have often wondered since what chance we should have once 
the great saw -mills there and steamers get to work. 
As an example of futile suggestion the Commissioners of 1909 included 
as plantable areas all mountain and heath land up to an altitude of 1 ,500 
feet. It would have been a good plan if they had asked more experienced 
planters to give their views before making so wild a suggestion, for it 
is well known that no trees can be grown to commercial profit at even 
half that altitude in the north-west of Scotland, whilst there are plenty 
75 
