There are only about 240,000 acres of woodland in the Free State. That represents 1.2 per cent. of the total land surface, which is a very small percentage compared with any other country in Europe which is suitable for growing trees. The policy of the Forestry branch is to increase the woodland area to, at least, five per cent. of the total land surface. That would entail the planting of 600,000 additional acres, in addition to conserving the 240,000 acres of woodland already in existence. The main difficulty about forestry is that land is wanted for some other purpose. Mountain land is not suitable for afforestation and a large percentage of the lands which are suitable are required for what is regarded as a more urgent purpose, such as the relief of congestion. 400 acres is regarded as an economic unit, and if that amount of land is obtained, similar units can be grouped about it. The total area of forest land acquired is 33,000 acres, 21,000 of which have been purchased in fee simple. Close on 7,000 acres of that were obtained from the Department of Defence and negotiations are proceeding for the acquisition of a further 11,000 acres.
During the past season 3,043 acres were planted, and for this purpose 6,000,000 trees were required. The principal varieties used were Douglas fir, Scots pine, larch, common and sitka spruce, silver fir and Corsican pine, etc. The Department were able to supply about 3,000,000 trees from their own nurseries for last year's planting, and the others were got from various sources. The total area planted during the last five years was 10,611 acres. In 1921-22 the number of acres planted was 707; in 1922-23, 959; in 1923-24, 1,176; in 1924-25, 2,210; and in 1925-26, 3,043. Considerably more will be planted this year because Deputies will notice that for cultural operations there is this year a sum of £29,000 as against £24,000 last year. The number of workmen employed is, roughly, 100 permanent men and 260 seasonal men. It is hoped to purchase in addition about 3,000 acres this year, and in addition plant about 3,500 acres. I do not think that I need say anything on the sub-heads, as they speak for themselves. The important sub-head is C 2, which amounts to £29,000 as against £24,000 last year, and that refers both to the maintenance of land and to cultural operations. This year for these two purposes as well as for the acquisition of land under sub-head C (1) the sum is £34,000.