THE VALUE OF WASTE LAND FOR AFFORESTATION PURPOSES. 147 
to convince a man of average common-sense that fresh air 
and good food are more conducive to good health than starva- 
tion and confinement, and in much the same way the most 
elementary knowledge of tree-growth will convince any man 
that thin soils and exposed situations are not so favourable 
for timber production as deep soils and sheltered valleys. But 
between these two extremes are a variety of soils and situations, 
at present practically bare of tree-growth, which constitute a 
large proportion of the semi-waste land of the country, and 
which it is clearly the duty of the advocate of afforestation 
to investigate as thoroughly as possible before asserting definitely 
that planting on this class of land will turn out a profitable 
undertaking. The question of the best method of carrying 
out this investigation has never, so far as I am aware, been 
dealt with in this country, and it was with the idea of bringing 
this important matter before the members of the Royal Scottish 
Arboricultural Society that I prepared this paper. 
In my opinion, any method of arriving at definite conclusions 
on the value of waste land for planting purposes must be carried 
out more or less on the following lines. I must here ask you 
to remember, however, that I have in mind, not the planting 
of small areas, but the wholesale, but gradual, afforestation 
of a tract of country of several thousand acres at the least, 
and which is to be planted with the idea of turning it intoa 
forest district. 
SUITABLE TYPE OF AREA. 
The first point to which attention should be directed is the 
selection of the area for investigation. To spend time and 
trouble on the first piece of waste land we come across might 
possibly lead to no useful result; as there is no close relation- 
ship between the existence of waste or semi-waste ground and 
its capacity or suitability for growing timber. As a suitable area 
for investigation, I should consider a district in which at least 
three-fourths of the land was incapable of intensive cultivation, 
or unworthy of artificial assistance from an agricultural point of 
view. With a few exceptions, such districts can only be met 
with, in the north at any rate, on hill ranges, and, in a general 
way, they may be said to lie at mean elevations of not less than 
500 feet above sea-level. Below this level, the land is usually 
