AFFORESTATION OF CATCHMENT AREAS 87 
pool, Birmingham, Manchester, and Torquay had planted 
on a considerable scale; while Oldham, Llandudno, Bolton, 
Darwen, Bury, Cardiff, Derwent River Valley Board, and 
Plymouth had each planted a few acres. It was evident 
that with the exception of three or four of the larger 
municipalities the matter had been half-heartedly taken 
up. The cost of the work had also been very high in 
most cases, and there were indications that with one or 
two exceptions it had been indifferently carried out. Some 
of the planting had been hastily undertaken with a 
view to finding employment for men thrown out of 
work during the trade depression of the years 1908 and 
1909, and generally without proper advice or expert super- 
vision. 
The Reconstruction Report says that “complete figures - 
are not available of the total area of land held by Local 
Authorities in the catchment areas of their water supplies. 
The total area is considerable, and, moreover, is increasing 
steadily. It is not possible to say definitely in the absence 
of a survey what proportion of the total area held by Local 
Authorities is afforestable. A survey made by the Board 
of Agriculture of the Birmingham Corporation’s land in 
Wales disclosed 6000 acres of suitable land. After making 
deductions for altitude and exposure, unsuitable soil, etc., 
it would probably be found that the total acreage of water 
catchment areas fit for afforestation in Great Britain is not 
less than 50,000 acres, and may be considerably more.” 
This estimate is a moderate one; more likely 80,000 
acres of municipally owned lands are available for planting 
in the British Isles. How important these areas are in 
the aggregate will be shown in the three concluding chapters 
of this book, where detailed descriptions are given in 
geographical order of nearly all the gathering grounds of 
water supplies in England and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. 
The total extent in 1918 of the gathering grounds in Great 
Britain and Ireland, summarised from the information 
given in these three chapters, is shown in the following 
table : 
