64 Distribution of Chief Forms of Vegetation 



To a large extent in England, and probably to a much 

 greater extent in Wales, much of the permanent grass- 

 land is not regularly manured and should be trans- 

 ferred to the second heading as forming semi-natural 

 plant-communities ; so we may say in a very general way 

 that somewhere about one-quarter of England, one-half 

 of Wales, three-quarters of Scotland and perhaps as much 

 of Ireland, bear natural plant-communities more or less 

 modified by the activities of man. 



Comparing these proportions with those obtaining in 



the neighbouring continental countries^ we 

 ^to'^T ^^^ *^^* France probably has a distinctly 

 countries larger proportion of land with a natural or 



semi-natural plant-covering than England, 

 but still a fraction of the same order, that is to say some- 

 thing in the neighbourhood of one-quarter to one-third, 

 while Germany must have at least one-third, Holland 

 decidedly over one-quarter, Belgium probably the same, 

 and Denmark distinctly less than one-quarter. Norway, 

 on the other hand, has more than 96 per cent, of her area 

 uncultivated, including permanent grassland. 



When we turn to the way in which these fractions 

 are made up, however, we find very striking differences. 

 G-ermany has over 25 per cent, of her area covered with 

 woods and plantations, Norway 22 per cent., France about 

 17 per cent., while Holland and Denmark each has about 

 7 or 8 per cent., England between 5 and 6 per cent., 

 Scotland less than 5, Wales less than 4, and Ireland only 

 1^ per cent. Thus Germany, Norway and France have 

 an immensely greater proportion of their uncultivated 

 and unmanured areas under forest than have Holland 

 and Denmark or England, while Scotland, Wales and 



1 The statistics of the different countries are, to a large extent, 

 impossible to compare, so that the proportions given are necessarily 

 even rougher than those for the British Isles, and are intended only to 

 give the most general idea of the relations. 



