After careful computation I have no hesitation in saying that the area of plantations in the United Kingdom could at once be doubled by the planting of waste lands which at present do not bring in over 2_s._ per acre per year of rental, with infinite benefit to the country generally and a vast increase in the value of land both to the owner and farmer who cultivates it. In the matter of afforesting, a grain of practice is worth a ton of theory, and as I have personally supervised every operation, from marking out the plantation boundary on the exposed hillside, to draining, fencing, planting, thinning and disposing of the produce, my opinions on the question are at least worthy of consideration. =The Approaching Scarcity of Timber.=—Than timber no article is probably more indispensable to the welfare of a nation, entering extensively as it does into almost every trade and industry. For England, therefore, with an ever-increasing import, the possibility of a dearth of timber must be regarded with the keenest anxiety, more particularly as this would entail prohibitive prices and seriously cripple the trade of the country. The following table, as reported to the Washington Bureau of Manufactures, will show at a glance the annual imports of timber of the principal countries of Europe:— England 16,342,600 cub. yds. Germany 11,766,667 ” France 8,496,300 ” Belgium 1,897,777 ” Italy 915,148 ” Denmark 849,630 ” Spain 392,222 ” Switzerland 313,778 ” In face of this it is only reasonable to suppose that the Government will act promptly in the matter, remembering that no scheme of afforesting, however extensive or well ordered, can bring the necessary relief for at least forty years after its inception. For all this, and in spite of numerous warnings as to the pressing necessity for tree planting and the ominous signs of a timber famine, little or nothing has been done, save the holding of meetings by the Board of Agriculture and the purchase of a few hundred acres of waste land in Scotland. To sum up briefly, the situation is this:—England’s imports before the war rapidly increased from a trifle under 3¼ million loads in 1864 to fully 10 million loads in 1906, thus showing an increment of fully 7 million loads in forty-two years. Most European countries have large internal supplies of timber, so that, by a system of conserving and protective tariffs, the pinch of want would not be felt severely for years to come. But not so England, which is almost wholly dependent on supplies from abroad.