PLANTING OF WATER CATCHMENT AREAS 117 
a good return for the original outlay upon them.” See 
letter from the agents of this estate in Zhe Times, 17th 
December 1913. 
In comparison with continental regions in Europe or 
America, it is remarkable the low altitude to which any 
kind of cultivation, whether farming, grazing, or forestry, 
can be carried in the British Isles. This is always a subject 
of wonder to foreign visitors. Fortunately, however, the 
area at high elevations is not a great percentage of the 
total area. In Great Britain, of the total area (excluding 
water) of 56,199,980 acres only 3,537,172 acres, or 6°3 
per cent, is over 1500 feet elevation. The proportion is 
greatest in Scotland, with a total area of 19,069,674 acres, 
of which 2,642,529 acres, or 13:3 per cent, is over 1500 
feet. In Ireland, of a total area of 32,502 square miles, 
only 1672 square miles, or a little over 5 per cent, is 
above 1000 feet altitude. 
The division of the country into three distinct zones 
(Fig. 13) of vegetation, the nature of which has been 
discussed at length in the preceding pages, leads to certain 
conclusions of some economic interest. These may be thus 
summarised : 
1. In the upper zone, that of the moors, no cultivation 
of any kind is possible, or at any rate profitable. The land 
may be cheerfully resigned to the sportsman and the 
tourist. It gives in grouse, in deer, and in recreation a 
considerable return. 
2. In the middle zone, that of hill pasture, two in- 
dustries are possible—grazing and growing timber. Their 
interests need not clash. The shelter to adjoining pasture’ 
afforded by plantations is worth more to the grazier than the 
possession of the ground which the trees cover. Further- 
more, plantations may actually add to the grazing area. In 
larch and other conifer plantations on poor mountain land, 
which have reached 20 or 30 years old, there is often 
an undergrowth of grass, superior in quality to the scanty 
_ rough herbage outside. Sheep and cattle may be admitted 
into these plantations. This extra grazing and the pro- 
