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are over a thousand saw-mills which are worked on a large scale, besides many smaller mills employing over 40,000 workmen. In those countries, it was the custom to sell the standing forest to the merchant, who took what he wanted and left the rest on the ground. This method of sale was found very unsatisfactory from the State point of view, and now attention is being given to restocking the cleared areas. In Finland and in Russia, where the forests are enormous, it is impossible to utilise much of the wood. The value of timber is governed more by the distance which it has to be transported, than by its quality. In 1898, in the State forests, the value of wood cut was 42 million roubles, while the timber left on the cut-over ground, could it have been realised, was valued at 46 million roubles. It pays only to cut the most convenient sizes. Austria-Hungary has developed a good forestry system, mainly on German lines. The private forest-owner plays the larger part there, and individual enterprise, fostered by proper assistance from the State, has accomplished great things. From Austria-Hungary, we can learn much which would help us to solve the forestry question in Britain. More or less similar conditions of things prevail in Switzerland, Denmark, and the other countries of Europe. A remarkable feature is the attention that is given to forestry education in these countries. In Germany, there are eight colleges and university departments, at which a training is provided qualifying for the higher State service, for it has long since been recognised that the administrative work is of a nature that demands high qualifications as to general education and technical knowledge. There are also numerous schools for the education of foremen and overseers, but in the Government service, the two branches are distinct and apart, and there is no passing over from the lower to the higher service. Several of these higher colleges were founded more than a century ago, and are now highly efficient institutions, with every facility for teaching all branches of the subject. Schools of this type have been established in every country on the Continent, and altogether this branch of education has been liberally provided for. Thus Britain does not lack example, and nowadays her position is not different from that of other countries, excepting that her needs are greater.

The question in Britain at present divides itself into two parts,

the first relating to existing woodlands, the second to the possibility of afforesting the vast area of bare land. The somewhat unhappy condition of much of our woodland is, in a large measure, due to neglect of the fundamental principles of silviculture. Where planting has been done, it has often been carried out in an irregular way, large tracts being planted one year, and then none for many years to come. It is clear, then, that the revenue derived from those woods must also be irregular. The aim ought to be and it is so obvious that it should not be necessary to mention it to have the woodland area on each estate, so parcelled off, that a more or less equal quantity of wood will come under the axe each year. The woods are then worked on a rotation system and a uniform annual income is derived from them. Thus the expenditure for planting is not felt; it does not become a burden on the estate, as it is simply deducted from the profits of sale of the mature timber. The rotation system, too, steadies the timber market, and enables the proprietor to sell his wood to greater advantage. A cure for a large part of the ills under which the forest at present suffers, lies in the provision for suitable education for foresters. A knowledge of the principles of silviculture comes as a gift to no one, and while experience is a highly qualified and capable teacher, she nevertheless demands a particular class of pupil. Further, a single human life is too short to glean by experience the facts that relate to the long life of the forest. A well-ordered course of study of the proper kind, both theoretical and practical, produces infinitely better results at less expense. Then the concentrated experience of the past can be placed at the disposal of the present generation. Rule of thumb forestry is too expensive. It must be borne in mind that the work of the forester bears fruit a century hence, and his mistake of to-day may take half of that time to rectify. Thus provision ought to be made on a liberal scale for thorough teaching and training in all that pertains to the work of the forest.

Several other adverse influences have been at work. Sport has been allowed to dominate the situation, under the idea that game and forests are incompatible, but fashions in sport are changing, and the change is to the advantage of the forest. The rabbit, which is the sworn foe of forestry, is no longer finding the favour with the sportsman that he did formerly. He will be

kept within bounds. So, too, the day of the deer forest, in its present form, is passing, for the finest of sports does not quite fit in with modern times and customs. The grouse moor is still in favour, and some of the present deer ground may become grouse moor; but much of it, like the green grassy hills of West Scotland, is not suitable and will naturally become timberproducing land. Thus the forces at present at work are in favour of tree-planting. Objection is often taken to the method of taxation of woodlands, on the ground that the wood does not give a return for a long number of years. This objection is hardly sound, for if the woods be worked on a proper system, a revenue will be derived from them each year. There is, however, ground for the contention that moorland and similar ground, which has been afforested for the first time, be exempt from taxation for thirty or forty years. This is indeed the custom in several States on the Continent, and the results have long since justified the concession. It is also repeatedly suggested that legislation is necessary to make restocking of the forest ground compulsory, that the matter is one of such national importance as to justify interference with the rights of property. In Austria, Bavaria, Baden, &c., failure to replant absolute forest land within a certain time, costs the owner a fine of so much per acre of the land in question. For subsequent failure to replant, an increased fine is imposed and the land is planted by the State authorities. In other States many different laws, with the same end in view, are in operation. As to the desirability of such legislation, opinions naturally differ widely, and in Britain were the State to set the example, and encourage the industry, it would probably prove unnecessary. With the afforestation of bare land, the experience of all nations has been that the State must set the example, for the investment, though sound and safe, gives a direct return only after many decades. Thus it is too much to expect, that all the available land will ever be planted by its present owners without State aid. The situation at present demands that the State acquire a certain area of land for afforestation purposes. This could be done without materially altering our land system, but to what extent State action will be necessary will depend on the landowners themselves.

The question of forestry is thus one which demands immediate attention. Britain can well take her place among the forestry countries of Europe. She has all the elements necessary for successful timber production. Individual efforts may yet achieve much, but the initiative must be taken by the State. The advantages which would accrue from a judicious scheme of afforestation on the part of the State would be great. The initial expenditure does not need to be big. It is not merely an outlay of money, it is an investment; and the State is a perpetual owner and can invest for future generations. Land which at present is of little value to its owner, and none to the nation at large, can be made to yield considerable returns. A national asset, ever increasing in value, is created. Forestry can be made a large industry, producing one of the necessities of modern life. It has its foundations in the land. It affords a large amount of healthy employment directly and fosters many industries in town and country. Britain can now start and be certain of success. It is now more than a century since Germany, Austria, and France, began to pay attention to the possibilities of their forests, and since that time they have been experimenting, observing, and accumulating knowledge on all branches of forestry, and the experience they have thus gained is available for us. The principles of forestry are universal, and those principles have already been discovered and proved right by a century of practical experience. We have merely to apply them to suit our insular conditions.

W. DAWSON.

THE NAVAL SITUATION: THE MEASURES

REQUIRED

Mr. Balfour wishes his fatherland to be independent of the benevolence
or the spite of any Power whatsoever, and therefore seeks to open the
eyes of the indolent masses to the danger that threatens them if they
do not pay higher premiums for the insurance of their possessions.
THAT AN ANGLO-GERMAN WAR IS CONSIDERED LIKELY IN
EVERY CHANCELLERY IS TRUE.-Herr M. Harden in the Zukunft.

NEARLY

THE opening of 1910 finds the British people in the most critical position. Their naval supremacy has been hazarded, if not finally lost. Step by step during the past four years the British fleet has been reduced, while concurrently the German fleet has been increased and expanded. Gigantic preparations have been made in the Fatherland to outstrip Britain in the rapid construction of "Dreadnoughts." It has been admitted by members of Mr. Asquith's Government that the Liberal Ministry have been entirely wrong in their naval policy. They assumed that the German programme was a "paper one," or, if a real one, that it would not be anticipated and accelerated. They assumed that England had a great advantage over Germany in rapid construction, so that at any moment they could recover any trifling advantage that Germany might have gained through their own slackness and parsimony. Both assumptions have now been abandoned by them. They told us last March that it was necessary to reconstruct the entire British fleet, except so far as it consisted already of "Dreadnoughts." They further told us that they did not know what was happening in the German shipbuilding yards, or the rate at which construction there was proceeding. But, in the face of all their admissions, they have done little or nothing to meet the crisis or to reconstruct the fleet; and in the year 1909-10, now drawing to a close, their outlay

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