THE VALUE OF WASTE LAND FOR AFFORESTATION PURPOSES. 145 
clothed with timber-crops, giving employment to a dense rural 
population, and bringing in a revenue which will extinguish the 
National Debt in the course of a century or so. They regard 
the indifference with which this subject has hitherto been treated, 
by landowners on the one hand, and the Government (usually 
the party to which they themselves do not belong) on the 
other, as little short of criminal, and contrast the condition 
of things in Great Britain as regards forestry with that prevailing 
in France or Germany. I am quite sure that we all feel it our 
duty, as foresters, to agree with a great deal of what they state. 
In France, Germany, Belgium, Austria-Hungary, and other 
countries on the Continent of Europe, we find the bulk of the 
mountain-land either covered with thriving forests, or energetic 
steps being taken to render it so. To say that such work has 
not only been successful from a sylvicultural point of view, 
but has also added considerably to the public revenue of those 
countries, is simply to state a well-known fact, and it might 
be worth while to inquire why it is that Great Britain presents 
such a striking contrast to continental countries in this respect. 
To answer this inquiry fully, however, would lead us too far 
from the point we are dealing with, and all that can be 
discussed this evening is the fact that such a difference does 
exist, and the question whether it continues to exist from natural 
or economic causes on the one side, or from sheer indifference 
on the part of those interested on the other. 
EVIDENCE For OR AGAINST THE PLANTING OF WASTE LAND. 
The direct evidence that trees of various kinds will grow on 
our waste land and hill ranges is fairly conclusive. In the 
first place, we have the existence of scattered plantations of 
various sizes and various degrees of imperfection, to convince 
us that many kinds of trees will reach a fair size on suitable 
soils and situations, and at elevations up to 1000 and 1200 
feet above sea-level. This much most people acquainted 
with tree-growth will allow, and no good purpose would be 
served by spending time in proving that such is the case. 
But the point which has never been satisfactorily settled is 
the extent to which planting ona large scale can be profitably 
carried out by an individual landowner, or a Government 
willing to invest large sums of money in this work for the good 
