SOIL AND SURFACE CONDITIONS 147 



opportunities occur. In a country such as Great Britain, 

 where every acre of agricultural land has been appro- 

 priated for one purpose or another for centuries back, it is 

 impossible to obtain large areas of suitable land in solid 

 blocks of more than 500 to 1000 acres in extent. Larger 

 areas than these either include a certain proportion of 

 useless land, or embrace agricultural holdings which are 

 already producing more wealth to the nation generally 

 than they would do vmder afforestation. 



Whether the acquisition of a certain proportion of the 

 latter for planting purposes is justifiable or not is an open 

 question, but it is obvious that the large individual forest 

 areas found abroad are on land of this class, although 

 they may possibly have been under forest from the first. 

 If Great Britain is to secure a forest area representing 

 from 5 to 10 per cent, of the total area of the country, 

 it is safe to say that the agriculturist or grazier must be 

 asked to give up, as already stated, from 2,000,000 to 

 4,000,000 acres of land, which now possesses a rental 

 value of from 2s. 6d. to 5s, per acre per annum for graz- 

 ing purposes, and is probably yielding a gross return of 

 10s. to 20s. 



