Forest Conditions. 367 



issue of the day rather than demands of a future and 

 systematic preparation for the same occupy his mind. 

 He lacks, as Mr. Roseberry points out, scientific 

 method, and hence is wasteful. Moreover, he is con- 

 servative and self-satisfied beyond the citizens of 

 any other nation, hence if all the wisdom of the world 

 point new ways, he will still cling to his accustomed 

 ones. In the matter of having commissions appointed 

 to investigate and report, and leaving things to con- 

 tinue in unsatisfactory condition he reminds one of 

 Spanish dilatoriness. These would appear to us the 

 reasons for the difficulty which the would-be reformers 

 experience in bringing about economic reforms. 



1. Forest Conditions. 



Caesar's and Strabo's descriptions agree that Great 

 Britain was a densely wooded country. The forest 

 area seems to have been reduced much less through 

 long-continued use, than through destruction by fire 

 and pasture, and by subsequent formation of moors, 

 so that it is now, excepting that of Portugal, the 

 smallest of any European nation in proportion to 

 total area, and, excepting that of Holland, in pro- 

 portion to population. 



Of the 121,380 square miles, which Great Britain 

 and Ireland represent, less than 4 per cent., or 3 

 million acres, (880,000 in Scotland, 303,000 in Ireland) 

 are forested, one-fourteenth of an acre, per capita; 

 but there are nearly 33% of waste lands, namely over 

 12 million acres of heaths, moors and other waste 

 lands capable of forest growth, and another 12 million 

 acres partly or doubtfully so, while the agricultural 



