Extensive plantations of from a thousand to several thousand acres each, in compact blocks, are required, for it is only in dealing with such areas that the planting, tending, thinning, and conversion of the timber can be most economically and profitably carried out. From the purely economic point of view, the many small plantations dotted over the face of our country are worse than useless, though exceptions might be noted, especially in Scotland, where a few woods are planted and managed on a commercial basis. With compact blocks of forest 2,000 to 4,000 acres in extent, and with timber crops of mainly the same species in each, a continuity of supplies could be guaranteed, which under existing circumstances is quite out of the question. In many outlying districts all over the country that are far removed from road and rail it is difficult—in some cases impossible—to dispose of the usually small amount of timber that is periodically cut down; but were large quantities of the same kind and a continuity of supply ensured, merchants would be tempted to make special transit and other arrangements, as well as to offer a remunerative price for the timber, while railway companies would no doubt provide cheaper facilities for its transport. More than once I have been asked by owners of woodlands to recommend buyers of good Larch, Ash, and other timber, the demand for which far exceeds the supply; but after negotiating have invariably been told by the merchants that the quantity offered was too small to allow of special facilities for delivery being provided, the timber being far removed from road and rail, but that if a specified number of trees could be guaranteed annually for a number of years they were quite prepared to buy. Such cases occurred in the South and West of Ireland, and in remote parts of Wales and Scotland. These, then, are cases in which a continuity of supply—such as would be quite possible if an extensive scheme of afforesting was carried out—would ensure speedy sales at fair rates in places where at present it is difficult, if not impossible, to dispose of the small quantities of timber, even at ruinously low prices. The question, then, before the nation is: How, and by whom, is afforestation to be carried out on a scale commensurate with our necessities as by far the largest timber-importing country in the world?—larger, indeed, than all the countries of Europe put together. In answer, and without the slightest hesitation, I would say that the State should acquire and plant suitable lands at the rate of 40,000 acres annually for a period of twenty-five years, or 1,000,000 in all.