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WEBSTER’S PRACTICAL FORESTRY
A POPULAR HANDBOOK ON
THE REARING AND GROWTH OF TREES
FOR PROFIT OR ORNAMENT
BY A. D. WEBSTER
_Author of
“Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees and Shrubs” (3 Editions),
“Foresters’ Diary” (15 Editions), “Hardy Coniferous Trees”
(2 Editions), “Town Planting,” “Tree Wounds and Diseases,”
“British Timber and Timber-Producing Trees,”
etc., etc._
FIFTH EDITION
ENLARGED AND REVISED
LONDON
WILLIAM RIDER & SON, LIMITED
CATHEDRAL HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 4
1917
TO MY WIFE
THE FIFTH EDITION OF “PRACTICAL FORESTRY”
IS DEDICATED
PREFACE TO FIFTH EDITION
To the Author at least, it is gratifying to know that four editions of
_Practical Forestry_ have been sold out, and that a fifth is urgently
called for; no other work on British Forestry having achieved a like
popularity.
The whole has now been completely revised and several important
chapters added, particularly with reference to Timber and the War,
British Timber and Timber Trees, Afforesting Waste Lands, and The
Education of Foresters, on both of which latter questions the Author
had the honour of giving evidence before the Departmental Committee on
Forestry of the Board of Agriculture.
A. D. WEBSTER.
REGENT’S PARK,
_June, 1917_.
INTRODUCTION TO FIFTH EDITION
In my long experience of British Forestry, which, in a practical way,
has extended over a period of forty years, I have become more and more
convinced that in order to place it on a systematic and sound economic
footing, State aid and the afforesting of large areas of comparatively
waste lands are first necessities.
For the past thirty years I have not failed to urge upon the State,
as well as private owners of suitable land, the pressing necessity of
afforestation; and though in this matter a start has been made, yet
this can only be looked upon as a faint, half-hearted attempt quite
unworthy of our country and the vast interests at stake. As early as
1883, I drew attention to this matter in _Woods and Forests_, and at
later periods in most of the leading journals and papers of the day;
while in my evidence given before the Select Committee on Forestry, and
in a paper contributed by special request to the Board of Agriculture,
I went fully into the question, and pointed out what a boon to the
unemployed, and how great a saving to the country would be effected by
a well-organized scheme of tree planting.
Years ago I urged the Government to take up the question of the Larch
disease, the ravages of which I then described as being little short
of a national calamity. To the Highland and Agricultural Society
of Scotland, and the Royal Scottish Arboricultural Society, I have
contributed twenty-three papers on different topics connected with
forestry, for which special medals have been awarded, while my
_Practical Forestry_ has now passed into a fifth edition.
In connection with the afforesting of waste lands, I have travelled
over the greater part of the United Kingdom and have examined much
of the ground that could be set aside for this purpose, including the
peat bogs of Ireland; while at altitudes up to 1,100 ft. I have formed
plantations on the bare and wind-swept hillsides of Wales and Scotland,
which to-day are proving not only a boon to the farmers in the way of
the shelter they afford, but also a considerable source of profit to
the owners.
The above investigations, combined with the examination of and reports
on several of the largest woodland properties in this country, made
at the request of the owners, have given me a wide insight into the
forestry problem generally, but particularly with reference to our
requirements in the near future, in view of the fact that the United
Kingdom is by far the largest timber-importing country in the world.
A. D. W.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
FORESTRY AND THE WAR 1
CHAPTER II
COLLECTING AND STORING TREE SEEDS 8
CHAPTER III
PROPAGATING TREES AND SHRUBS 15
CHAPTER IV
THE HOME NURSERY: ITS FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT 24
CHAPTER V
FORMATION OF PLANTATIONS 32
CHAPTER VI
TREES FOR ECONOMIC PLANTING 47
CHAPTER VII
PLANTING EXPOSED GROUND 68
CHAPTER VIII
SEASIDE PLANTING 73
CHAPTER IX
TOWN PLANTING, AND THE TREES AND SHRUBS THAT ARE
BEST ADAPTED FOR WITHSTANDING SMOKE 87
CHAPTER X
TREES SUITABLE FOR HEDGEROW AND FIELD PLANTING 110
CHAPTER XI
ORNAMENTAL PLANTING 116
CHAPTER XII
TREES BEST ADAPTED FOR VARIOUS SOILS 128
CHAPTER XIII
TRANSPLANTING LARGE TREES 139
CHAPTER XIV
THINNING PLANTATIONS 141
CHAPTER XV
TREE-PRUNING IN ECONOMIC FORESTRY 151
CHAPTER XVI
BRACING AND REPAIRING TREES 159
CHAPTER XVII
COPPICE AND UNDERWOOD 170
CHAPTER XVIII
GAME COVERTS: THEIR FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT 174
CHAPTER XIX
HEDGES: THEIR FORMATION AND MANAGEMENT 184
CHAPTER XX
SHRUBS FOR SHADY SITUATIONS 191
CHAPTER XXI
INSECT ENEMIES OF TREES 193
CHAPTER XXII
FUNGUS GROWTH ON TREES 212
CHAPTER XXIII
BARKING OAK 220
CHAPTER XXIV
THE MANUFACTURE OF CHARCOAL 226
CHAPTER XXV
PRICES OF HOME-GROWN TIMBER 237
CHAPTER XXVI
BRITISH-GROWN TIMBER AND SOME OF ITS USES 240
CHAPTER XXVII
WILLOWS FOR BASKET-MAKING 243
CHAPTER XXVIII
UTILIZING WASTE FOREST PRODUCE 250
CHAPTER XXIX
FENCING PLANTATIONS 257
CHAPTER XXX
TIMBER MEASURING 268
CHAPTER XXXI
BLASTING AND BURNING TREE ROOTS 273
CHAPTER XXXII
PRICES OF CONTRACT OR PIECEWORK 277
CHAPTER XXXIII
FOREST AREA OF THE WORLD 280
CHAPTER XXXIV
AFFORESTING WASTE LANDS AND THE FINANCIAL RETURNS
THEREFROM 282
INDEX 295
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Arrangement of Plantations 33
Band and Connecting-Rod 166
Barking Tools 222
Beam Tree in London 103
Beech Tree 50
Blasting and Burning Tree Roots 273
Bracing a Tree 165
Cricket Bat Willow 55
Elm Tree Destroyer 199
Faulkner’s Transplanting Machine 140
Felling Tools 143
Goat Moth 201
Hedging Tools 185
Larch Canker 213
Measuring the Height of Trees 271
Method of Levelling 39
Oak Fences 262
Plan of Nursery 27
Plane Tree in Regent’s Park 99
_Polyporus Sulphureus_ 219
_Polyporus Squamosus_ 216
Pruning Tools 153
Pruning, Bad effects of 155
Rustic Wooden Fence, Strong Mortised Fence,
Strong Paling Fence 262
Sawn Wooden Fence 261
Section of Charcoal Pit 229
Savin Juniper as a Town Shrub 108
Slate Fences 259
Spirit-Level 39
Stone and Wire Fence 257
Tools used in Planting 43
Tools used in Draining 37
Tools required in Nursery 29
Tools for Fencing 264
Tree Guards 266
Weymouth Pine at Gwydyr Castle 61
Wire Fence with Wooden Posts 263
Willow Beetle 197
Wood Leopard Moth 203
Witch’s Broom on Willow 209, 210
WEBSTER’S PRACTICAL FORESTRY
CHAPTER I
FORESTRY AND THE WAR
During the war, and for long afterwards, there is bound to be a dearth
of foreign timber, with the result that our home supplies will be taxed
to the utmost. This, indeed, is already the case, and never before in
the history of our country has the demand for British-grown timber been
greater or prices higher than at the present time.
Plantations in England and Scotland are being cut down wholesale by
the Government, while felling on private estates is going on with such
rapidity that in a couple of years at most there is bound to be a
dearth of all home-grown timber, and of pitwood in particular.
In the aggregate, our supplies are by no means great, the total area at
present under woodlands being only a little over three million acres,
to which, however, must be added the amount of field and hedgerow
timber—a by no means inconsiderable quantity. Of Plantation timber
much is, however, of very inferior quality and only suitable for rough
fencing and mining purposes, and this applies generally to that grown
throughout England, Wales and Ireland. In Scotland, however, there are
large areas of coniferous woods that were planted for purely economic
purposes which will yield a certain amount of valuable timber for
pit-props and other immediate requirements. The felling of Scotch,
Spruce, and coniferous trees will, however, be a blessing in disguise,
for of late years both demand and price for this particular class
of timber have been by no means great and have hardly warranted the
owners of vacant land in undertaking the much-needed extension of our
woodlands. Larch, on the other hand, is scarce and always in demand at
a highly remunerative price, as also are Ash, Oak and Beech of large
size and good quality.
It is useless to go into the question of how long our home supplies
of timber will last, this depending largely on the volume of foreign
importations and the duration of the war, but, judging from present
demands, three years will find our plantations in a more or less
depleted condition. The main question we have to consider and decide,
without delay, is how our cut-over plantations are to be replaced by
the replanting of exhausted woodlands and afforesting some of the waste
lands of our country.
Continental experience has demonstrated that, from a commercial point
of view at least, State-owned forests are preferable to such as are
owned either by public bodies or by private individuals. The resources
and continuity of a nation will always make the State the best
custodian of forest property; indeed, only the State can acquire the
necessary land on the most favourable terms, and in sufficient quantity
for the purposes of extensive afforestation. Private individuals—or,
indeed, public bodies—labour under many disadvantages in this respect,
not the least being the long period required—in most cases from fifty
to sixty years—before the money expended in planting can be even
partially recovered.
Contrary to the conditions obtaining in the raising of agricultural
crops, long periods have to elapse before the forestry harvest can be
reaped. It will be obvious, therefore, that extensive tree planting
is quite beyond the power of the private individual unassisted. It
is a State business, in which systematic methods of cultivation, and
large wooded areas are first necessities; and, unfortunately, in this
country commercial forestry is but little understood—in fact, it may be
described as an unknown industry.
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.
When we consider that the total area of woodlands in this country is
only a little in excess of 3,071,000 acres, that fully 17,000,000 acres
of waste lands exist, and that we annually import over 10,000,000
tons of timber at a cost of about £25,000,000, the necessity for an
increased area of woodlands, so that a portion at least of this vast
sum may be kept at home, will be apparent to all, the more so as a
dearth of timber is imminent and outside supplies are being rigidly
conserved, while our home demands are ever on the increase.
In order to carry out my proposed scheme of planting a million acres
during the next five years, at the rate of 200,000 acres annually,
profitable and healthy employment would at once be found for several
thousand workmen. The question of transporting, housing and otherwise
dealing with these workmen has been brought forward as the most serious
drawback to the scheme, but, personally, having had to deal with such
cases I can see no insuperable difficulty in the undertaking. Surely,
if our railway and water companies, as also private landowners, can
deal with hundreds of men in remote mountain districts that are far
removed from road and rail, the Government could make the necessary
arrangements for the various bodies of workmen that would be employed
for afforesting purposes. Nor must tree planting be considered as a
new departure for unemployed labour, as in the formation of a large
plantation on a dreary exposed hillside in Wales, the whole of the
work, including clearing the ground of rough surface growth, draining,
pitting and planting, was most successfully carried out by detachments
of the unemployed.
The general physique of Army and Navy men and the discipline and hard
work to which they have been subjected during the war will render them
peculiarly suitable for carrying out the various operations connected
with the formation of plantations. Convalescent soldiers and sailors
could also find healthy employment in the various lighter tasks which
go hand in hand with afforestation, such as clearing the ground of
rough growing vegetation and lifting and distributing the young trees.
Several suggestions have been made for providing employment for our
returned soldiers and sailors, but much of this proposed work is, so to
speak, invented for the purpose, and would probably never be seriously
considered except for the exigencies of the case. Now I am quite of
opinion that afforesting waste lands offers a sensible system of
employment, for it is now generally admitted that a largely increased
area of our woodlands is an imperative and pressing necessity, and what
is of equal importance, the undertaking, if wisely entered upon, would
not only increase the value of such lands fourfold but form the nucleus
of an ever-increasing revenue of the State.
But this is not all, for apart altogether from the question of
immediate labour, what an industry would be opened up in years to come
by the planting of waste grounds! In the first instance there would
arise the necessity for clearing, fencing, draining, and planting the
ground, subsequently the tending of the plantations in various ways
would give employment. Thinning would commence about the tenth year,
after which the erection of sawmills and the conversion of the timber
would open a vast and ever-increasing industry, providing highly
remunerative work to thousands of the unemployed.
There are other ways in connection with forestry in which the
unemployed could be usefully and profitably set to work, such as in
preparing osier beds, planting dogwood for gunpowder charcoal, and in
the formation and stocking of tree nurseries, the produce of which
could with advantage be used in the formation of plantations. Osiers
for basket-making, charcoal for gunpowder and heating purposes, and
seedling plants for afforestation will all be greatly in demand after
the war when foreign supplies will not be forthcoming.
Regarding the most desirable centres at which to commence planting
operations, I would suggest those counties where the greatest areas of
waste lands exist, and where, in addition, advantages are offered in
the matter of cheap land purchase, as well as in a demand for and easy
removal of the produce. Thus we have:—
England Yorkshire and Northumberland with 1,010,924 acres.
Scotland Inverness and Argyleshire with 3,087,312 acres.
Wales Breconshire and Merionethshire with 461,320 acres.
Ireland Donegal and Kerry with 657,337 acres
(exclusive of 172,436 acres of bogland).
From these figures it will be seen that in case of necessity we could
get all the ground required for this afforesting scheme in two of the
counties of England and Scotland, or in three of Wales and Ireland.
The cost of procuring suitable land for afforesting purposes need
not be considered as any obstacle to the scheme. From extensive
inquiries made the price on an average would not be greater than £2
per acre. Through the kindness of the agent on the Gwydyr Estate, in
Carnarvonshire, I have been allowed to look over the sale contracts on
several of the properties, and from these I find that 7,412 acres were
disposed of at an average price of £2 2_s._ 3_d._ per acre. The ground
was excellent for the production of timber, as the Larch on adjoining
lands clearly evidenced. Again, the Crown recently purchased 12,500
acres in Scotland at the modest rental of £2 per acre. Many other
instances could be quoted, but the above suffice to show that land
in every way suitable for the production of high-grade timber can be
bought at probably less than £2 per acre.
The cost of forming plantations has been very carefully considered, and
for all practical purposes may be put down at £5 per acre, taking the
British Isles as a whole.
Regarding financial returns from tree planting, there is overwhelming
proof that land worth only from 1_s._ to 3_s._ 6_d._ per acre has been
made to realise as much as 20_s._ per acre for fifty or sixty years,
with a final crop worth from £50 to £75 per acre.
Taking all the above points into consideration—the price of land,
the cost of planting and the financial returns—it will amply repay
the State to plant up uncultivated and waste lands. There should
be no loss of time in setting about this work if we are to provide
suitable employment for our returned soldiers and sailors and avoid the
threatened timber famine which, according to well-informed quarters, is
fast approaching.