PERCENTAGE OF WOODLANDS 



15 



the proportion of woodland and mountain and heath 

 land to total area. Roughly speaking over nine- tenths 

 of our wood imports are of coniferous timber. Now 

 coniferous trees are just the class of trees which we 

 could grow, and grow successfully, on our derehct and 

 waste lands, which aggregate roughly over i6|^ million 

 acres. Britain, once covered with forests, is now one 

 of the most poorly wooded countries in the world. 

 The land areas are roughly as follows : 



The percentage of woodlands in Great Britain and 

 Ireland is 4 only. The area of mountain and heath 

 land runs to over i6| milHon acres, and much of this at 

 present brings in a very small annual return, roughly, 

 save in exceptional circumstances, from 2s. 6d. per acre 

 to a few pence per acre only. There is a good deal of 

 the latter in Scotland. 



I will commence by briefly indicating what we have 

 been doing towards attempting to ameliorate the 

 returns from this poor land. 



During the past quarter of a century several Com- 

 mittees have been appointed to deal with the forestry 

 question. The result, so far as the actual planting of 



