PROPRIETORSHIP OF THE LAND. 



189 



how serious the matter becomes every winter, how special 

 efforts are made to deal with it, and yet how much remains to 

 be done. Afforestation offers one of the means of solving the 

 difficulty. The bulk of forest work can be done at those 

 times of the year, when the question of the unemployed is 

 most pressing, that is in winter. Why should the great City 

 of London, yea, one or other of the City Companies, not buy 

 a few tracts of mountain land, where forest work could be 

 given to the unemployed during winter ? It is true that 

 extensive tracts of surplus land cannot be found in the 

 immediate vicinity of London, but railway communication is 

 so complete that a moderate distance does not make much 

 difference. The agricultural returns show that there is plenty 

 of land to choose from for all the large towns in England and 

 Wales :— 



Mountain and Heath Lands in England and Wales. 



In 



In 



