74 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



favourable for timber production, and its industries are 

 entirely supported or concerned with the grazing of sheep, 

 and working up of woollen goods in its largest town, 

 Galashiels. In 1891 this county is said to have had a 

 rural population of over 4000, but which has since been 

 reduced by about 500. Assuming that one-fifth of the 

 rural population consists of agricultural workers, it would 

 appear that 1 man finds employment on every 230 

 acres of total agricultural surface, or an average of 3 

 men to a holding. It might, therefore, be regarded as a 

 county which could, from the size of its holdings and the 

 use to which its surface is put, be partly acquired for 

 aftbrestation without adversely affecting the interests of 

 a large number of persons, or any important industry de- 

 pending entirely upon the raw material, other than wool, 

 produced within its boundaries. 



Several features present themselves in connection with 

 the afforestation of land in a county of this class, the 

 most important of which are the gross values of the 

 produce obtained from sheep-grazing and forestry re- 

 spectively per acre of total surface, the cost of production 

 in labour and materials, and the nett gain in money to 

 the owner and occupier of the land. As regards the first 

 of these, the gross value of the produce, it may be 

 assumed that the 20 per cent, of arable land in the 

 county is capable of producing more value and sup- 

 porting more labour per acre under agriculture than 

 forestry. The reasons for this are well known, and need 

 not be further discussed. The relative economic import- 

 ance of agriculture and forestry chiefly concerns the 

 mountain land, the produce of which is mutton and wool 

 in the one case and timber in the other. This land repre- 

 sents 80 per cent, of the total used for agriculture in the 

 county, but a certain proportion of this, consisting of 



