3*5 



there is, on the other hand, a large aggregate amount of land ap- 

 propriated by the smaller towns and villages which should properly 

 come under this head. The amount of " waste " area is thus re- 

 duced to 1 1 ooo ooo acres, which total would include not only 

 absolutely barren and rocky land, but also a large area occupied 

 by railways, roads, quarries, mines, etc. outside urban area. By 

 this process of exhaustion it will be seen that the amount of " waste 

 land " not under crops or woods, not above the i 500 feet level, 

 not subject to common rights, and not included in urban areas 

 comes to a total appreciably less than the area returned as 

 "mountain and heath land used for grazing." The inference is 

 that a certain proportion of this land (none of which is included 

 in the land under crops or woods) is above the i 500 feet level, 

 or subject to common rights or included in urban areas. 



The manner in which, at the suggestion of the Royal Commission 

 on Coast Erosion and Afforestation, the problem was approached in 

 the inquiry of obtaining an accurate estimation of the amount of waste 

 lands which might be considered suitable for planting was to take 

 the area returned as mountain and heath land used for grazing as 

 representing the extent of available surface which might be utilised 

 for afforestation, and to estimate what proportion of this area in 

 six selected counties (Wiltshire, Suffolk, Derbyshire, Glamorganshire, 

 Lancashire, and Lanarkshire) might be regarded as actually sui- 

 table for planting." 



The proportion of the mountain and heath land used for grazing 

 which was reported as suitable for planting ranged from nil in 

 Wiltshire to 44 per cent in Lanark, and 71 per cent in Suffolk: 

 Taking the six counties as a whole it appears that of the 508 644 

 acres of the land returned as mountain and heath in 1907, about 

 33 per cent, may be regarded as suitable for afforestation. 



There is no statistical justification for assuming that the " sample " 

 taken by means of this inquiry is representative of the bulk, or, 

 in other words, that the proportion of suitable land found in the 

 six counties can be properly applied to all the remaining counties. 

 Sufficient information has been obtained, however, to indicate that 

 very large deductions must be made from the total area returned 

 as mountain and heath to arrive at a figure which would represent 

 land suitable for planting. The reports seem to suggest that a 

 large part of the land over i 500 feet is included in the area returned. 

 If it is assumed that out of the 3 537 ooo acres above i 500 feet 



