The following chapters, which have their origin in papers originally contributed to the Scotsman, are designed to meet, and possibly to stimulate, that interest in British woodland resources which has so greatly increased within recent years. The author's aim has not been to present either a scientific botanical treatise or a manual of technical forestry; he has attempted to describe the leading characteristics of the forest growths indigenous to the United Kingdom, and to indicate those exotic species which have proved, or are likely to prove, best adapted to the British climate, whether as economic or purely decorative subjects.

There has been in the past—there prevails to a considerable extent in the present—confusion among British planters between the two branches of wood-craft—silviculture and arboriculture. Silviculture or forestry—the science of managing woodland to produce serviceable timber—has been so grossly neglected in the United Kingdom that its cardinal principles have had to be learnt afresh. Accustomed to rely upon foreign imports for our timber supply, we came to look upon woodland as a luxury, useful in so far as it provides shelter from storm, cover for game and foxes, and ornament to the landscape, but of negligible commercial value. Of this result the titles of the associations formed for the promotion and study of wood-craft are very significant; they are not styled Forestry Societies or Silvicultural Societies, but Royal Arboricultural Societies. Ever since the days of Tradescant and John Evelyn, British planters have excelled in arboriculture—the skilful rearing and tending of choice trees and their disposal singly or in groves for the decoration of parks and pleasure-grounds. Now, however, that the world's consumption of timber has overtaken, and bids fair soon to overtax, the supply, attention is being directed to the extent of forest capabilities in the United Kingdom. The development of these resources can be accomplished only through systematic forestry, as prescribed in the science of silviculture. We are the only considerable nation in Europe whose Government neglects forestry as a source of revenue; we have, consequently, immense leeway to make up. Timber of every description is a crop of long rotation, exceeding, in some cases far exceeding, the average duration of human life. One generation has to plant trees for the advantage of its successors; but it is just that kind of long-range altruism which chiefly distinguishes civilised from barbarous nations.

Let me not be interpreted as underrating the value of the work done by arboriculturists. By the enterprise of our leading nurserymen, the intrepidity and zeal of their collectors, and the eagerness of landowners to embellish their estates, a vast experimental stage has been accomplished, enabling one to form a fair estimate of the adaptability of different exotic trees to the climate of the British Isles. The results of this experimental period have been summed up recently in the great work of Mr. Elwes and Dr. Henry, who have devoted many years of strenuous labour to examining the conditions of tree growth in all four Continents, and recording the behaviour of different species when planted in this country. The extent and thoroughness of their survey, and the critical experience they have brought to bear upon the subject, give a special value to their testimony to the work of British arboriculturists. "After having seen the trees of every country in Europe, of nearly all the States of North America, of Canada, Japan, China, West Siberia and Chile, we confidently assert that these islands contain a greater number of fine trees from the temperate regions of the world than any other country."[1]

It was high time that, in the material interest of the community, endeavour should be made to establish an organised forest industry in the United Kingdom. The Government, after many years of reiterated enquiry and hesitation, have at last taken the first steps in the establishment of State forest. At present, these steps have not carried the matter very far; but great bodies get slowly under way; as one may not judge the speed of an Atlantic liner by the rate at which she leaves the harbour, so we should exercise patience during the initial stages of what we hope may prove a great enterprise.

The newly formed Forestry Departments of the English, Scottish, and Irish Boards of Agriculture have the results of experimental planting by arboriculturists to guide them in their choice of species. The opinion is sometimes expressed that British forests should be composed of indigenous species, on the principle that Nature has indicated which species are best adapted to our soil and climate. This is to overlook the part played by chance in determining what trees and herbs should form the vegetation of these islands. When the ice-mantle was slowly being withdrawn, after grinding down the mountains to mere stumps of their pristine stature and strewing the plains with glacial dÉbris, seeds wafted by winds and waves or borne by birds found a footing, and those for which the conditions of soil and climate then prevailing were suitable, established themselves most readily and formed the staple vegetation. But those conditions have greatly altered since that far-off time; vegetation itself is a main agent in changing the character of the surface soil, adapting it to support growths of a different character to those which first took possession thereof. It is, therefore, no derogation to the admirable qualities of our native oak, ash, and pine that it has been found to our advantage to cultivate such exotic species as larch, spruce, sweet chestnut, and sycamore. Among the vast variety of foreign forest trees introduced to this country during the nineteenth century, it is almost certain that some will prove of great economic value when submitted to scientific treatment.

I have endeavoured in these pages to recapitulate in a convenient form what has been ascertained by experiment of the behaviour of foreign trees under British conditions, relying, not blindly, upon the conclusions arrived at by masters of the craft, as corroborated or checked by personal observation of a practical and somewhat sedulous nature, extending over youth, manhood, and old age.

Among those to whom I owe cordial thanks for providing negatives and other material for illustration are the Duke of Northumberland, the Earl of Radnor, the Hon. Hew H. Dalrymple, Professor William Somerville and Mr. Gerald Loder.

HERBERT MAXWELL.

Monreith, 1914.