THE VALUE OF WASTE LAND FOR AFFORESTATION PURPOSES. 143 
sterile soils, lying at moderate or even low elevations. Such 
soils are chiefly made up of Tertiary gravels, or such as rest on 
hard, rocky subsoils which interfere with natural and artificial 
drainage. In the north, on the other hand, waste land is often 
associated with fairly good soils which have been formed by 
the weathering of the rock below, or from glacial drift which 
overlies it. The natural fertility of such soils, however, is 
usually incapable of being turned to account owing to the 
altitude at which they lie, and the slope of the hills of which 
they form the surface. At altitudes of over 1000 feet, the 
length of the growing season is too short, and the mean summer 
temperature too low for cultivated crops to return a fair profit, 
and since the value of agricultural produce has dropped to 
such a low point, the tendency of late years has been to lay 
down, or put out of cultivation, large areas of elevated land 
which at one time existed as arable land. In all hill districts 
rough pasture may be seen on land which, a few years back, 
was growing oats, rye, and other hardy crops; but, under 
present conditions, such land is not likely to be again broken 
up, and in many cases it is gradually deteriorating by becoming 
overgrown with gorse, bracken, or heather, and slowly acquiring 
the same character as the hill land above or around it which 
has never been under cultivation. 
The uses to which such land is put by the owners or 
occupiers are not numerous. In the south it is usually entirely 
given up to the grazing of a few store cattle, and the breeding 
of sheep, donkeys, and ponies. Exmoor is popularly supposed 
to serve as a range and harbourage for red-deer, but, as a 
matter of fact, these animals live chiefly in the woods which 
surround or are interspersed with the moorland. Grouse do 
not exist, and rabbits are about the only creatures which afford 
sport in any numbers. So far as agriculture is concerned, these 
waste lands may be considered practically worthless, the poverty 
of the soil checking natural herbage, and prohibiting any attempt 
at manuring or draining where a return is expected. One 
striking feature of many of these heathy wastes in the south 
is the rapidity with which they are becoming covered in places 
by a natural growth of Scots pines and birch, and if not 
interfered with or destroyed by fire, the afforestation question 
would soon be settled without artificial agency. But the ex- 
istence of swamps and iron-pan, and the absence of adequate 
