CHAPTER IX. 



WASTE LANDS AND COPYHOLDS. 

 Inclosure The past result of the inclosure of waste lands 



of waste 



lands : under the control of the Government may be 

 learned from a return to an Order of the House 

 of Commons, made in 1873, which showed the 

 extent of commons and common field lands 

 then in England and Wales to be 2,632,000 

 acres, about one-fourteenth part of the whole 

 surface of that country. Probably one million 

 acres of the whole are capable of improvement 

 by reclamation, drainage, or planting. Previous 

 to the passing of the General Inclosure Act 

 of 1845, 2,500 inclosures had been sanctioned 

 by private Acts of Parliament, under which 

 2,142,000 acres of waste land were inclosed. 



its extent, The inclosures since 1845 have added 600,000 

 acres, so that up to the present time 2,757,000 

 acres altogether have been thus redeemed from 

 waste. Besides this, a very large extent of 



