Forestry and Hill Farming

Abstract

IN the face of present economic difficulties, the right use of the limited area of productive land in Great Britain, shrinking through the demands of housing and industry through diversion for use by the services becomes of prime importance. When the agricultural improver lifts his eyes to the hills in the hope of increasing food production, he finds that the forester has also marked the hills for the development of his forests. The case for increasing home-timber supplies is strong and finds expression in an afforestation policy that has been approved in principle by all parties. On the other hand, we must have more home-grown meat, and in this connexion the importance of hill lands is not simply in the actual mutton and lamb produced, but also in their value as a source of the foundation stocks of lowland sheep.