ADDRESS BY THE VICE-PRESIDENT, AUGUST 5, 1890. 3 
in the Highlands and elsewhere, too small of themselves to be 
profitably planted, but which are included in the Ordnance Survey 
measurements, and not given separately. I calculate the area of 
these to be, say, 146,322 acres. I may state that these latter 
figures are approximate, but are calculated on the basis of that 
found on given areas. Assuming these figures to be nearly 
correct, we are left with the still large surface of 8,444,533 acres 
highly suitable for the profitable production of first-class pine and 
other timber. This, then, proves so far the great loss we, as a 
nation, have sustained, are still sustaining, and are likely to 
sustain for a time, by not appropriating to our advantage the 
waste lands of our own country. 
The term waste land is perhaps a misnomer, as Jand can only 
be said to be waste by comparison with what its value might be 
under other and different circumstances and management—manage- 
ment more profitable to both the owners and the nation at large. 
There are few countries of the same population to a given area 
which have so large a proportion of their surface comparatively 
waste or “idle,” and so small a proportion of growing woods to the 
unit of population. This, no doubt, arises from the fact of our 
having an abundant supply of coal—wood for fuel being at a dis- 
count—and that there are no State forests or public interest in 
forestry. The public, as a whole, admire trees merely for their 
fine effect in the landscape, or the pleasant green of their foliage, 
and the shelter and shade they give in street, park, or highway 
—forgetting all the while, or not knowing or caring to know, the 
immense influence for good trees have on their welfare generally, 
and particularly by their sanitary influence, their extraordinary 
power of ameliorating a rigid and changeful climate, and regulating 
storms, thereby greatly prolonging life itself; whilst, looking at 
the case from a commercial point of view, nothing is more certain 
than if the area of our woodlands were increased even fourfold, 
the fertility of the remaining portion of waste would be so in- 
creased as to be able to support a much larger amount of live 
stock, and would give better crops and earlier harvests than at 
present. This is well understood in the district in which our 
meeting is being held—Easter Ross—as well as many other 
districts of Scotland, especially in the counties of Inverness, 
Aberdeen, Forfar, Perth, Berwick, and Roxburgh. Many parts 
of these counties are well wooded, not merely by large areas, but 
by the judicious arrangements of clumps, belts, etc. (we will see 
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