Taking the remaining stocks of the whole earth together, it may be said that a sufficient quantity of hardwoods is available, but the only countries which are able to supply coniferous timber for export on a considerable scale are Russia, Sweden, Norway, Austria and Canada. As these countries have practically to supply the rest of the world, and as the management of their forests is far from satisfactory, the question of supplying light pine and fir timber, which forms the very staff of life of the wood industries, must become a very serious matter before many years have passed. Unmistakable signs of the coming crisis are everywhere visible to all who wish to see, and it is difficult to over-state the gravity of the problem, when it is remembered, for instance, that 87% of all the timber imported into Great Britain consists of light pine and fir, and that most of the other importing countries are similarly situated. In some of these countries little or no room exists for the extension of woodland, but this statement does not apply to Great Britain and Ireland, which contain upwards of 12,000,000 acres of waste land, and 12,500,000 acres of mountain and heath land used for light grazing. One-fourth of that area, if put under forest, would produce all the timber now imported which can be grown in Britain, that is to say, about 95% of the total. The subjoined table shows the movements of timber within the greater part of the British empire:-- _Net Imports and Exports into and from the British Empire._