CHAPTER VI 



AFFORESTATION OF I'lT MOUNDS 



In the Black Country of South Staffordshire aud North 

 Worcestershire, smoke and flame are poured forth day and 

 night from innumerable chimneys, rendering the atmosphere 

 gloomy and unhealthy. Many spots, once green fields and 

 woodlands, are now covered with pit mounds — great heaps 

 of slag, shale, and coal waste (Fig. 8). These render 

 the landscape desolate, as they are poorly clad with vegeta- 

 tion, and assist by their depressing nature the bad effect of 

 the atmosphere on the physical and moral health of the 

 population. The efforts to afforest these barren heaps and 

 cover them with the verdure of trees is an important 

 hygienic measure. 



The Black Country has at least 30,000 acres of pit 

 banks, about 14,000 acres of which are suitable for planting 

 at the present moment ; and the other coal-fields of Great 

 Britain have many times this area available for afforestation. 

 The Midland Reaffbresting Association (1) was founded 

 on 12th February 1903, with the idea of getting rid of 

 the depressing desolation of the pit and factory rubbish 

 heaps, and " to re-establish forestry as a business in the 

 Midlands." 



The plantations made by the Association, though only 

 experimental and on a small scale, have been successful 

 not merely in beautifying the landscape, but have also 

 actually shown the possibility of producing profitably timber 

 of a useful kind on these barren waste heaps. It is only 

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