APPENDIX. 



AN ECONOMIC ESS A Y ON THE PLANTING 

 OF WASTE LANDS. 



THAT the planting of waste lands and land unprofitable 

 under cultivation will prove a national benefit cannot be 

 denied. The day is not distant when foreign supplies of 

 timber will decline, for it is already manifest that, through 

 the heavy drain upon the visible sources of supply, the 

 timber line is receding from the coasts. True, there are 

 enormous untapped areas of magnificent fir timber ; but to 

 reach these with any chance of profit is for the present 

 impossible. Generations may come and go and the 

 supply may continue ; but timber takes generations to 

 mature, so that to bridge over the period of diminution 

 and ultimate cessation planting cannot too soon be com- 

 menced. 



This question, though a national one, is not under the 

 nation's control, for the land of Great Britain and Ireland 

 is owned by individuals and not by the State, and it is 

 probable that landowners would raise serious objections 

 to State interference. What, however, the nation cannot 

 control it may advance by influence and by sympathy in 

 the form of relief of taxation, advance of money, and so 

 forth. 



The first step towards success is, and must continue to 



