44 ENGLISH ESTATE FORESTRY 



thoroughly established. It is common knowledge that 

 thousands of acres on the above, and other formations 

 equally suitable, are lying as more or less waste ground, 

 although the planting of such ground with trees would 

 render it a source of profit to the owner, and give employ- 

 ment to a great deal of unskilled labour in country districts. 

 We do not assert that the whole of the waste land of the 

 country is fit for afforestation, even if no obstacles existed 

 for using it for such a purpose. But there is little doubt 

 that the area of English woodlands might be doubled without 

 taking one acre of useful ground from the farmer or grazier. 

 Devonshire, Somerset, Dorset, Hants, Sussex, and Surrey, in 

 the south; Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, York- 

 shire, and Derbyshire, in the north ; and many parts of the 

 eastern and midland counties, contain extensive tracts which 

 might be afforested with advantage to all concerned, and 

 prove a source of national strength in the shape of a strong 

 and hearty woodland population. 



The Financial Eesults of Planting. 



Coming to the second point, — the financial results of 

 planting on a large scale, — we are treading on more uncertain 

 ground. As already said, the existence of flourishing and 

 profitable plantations justifies the belief being entertained 

 that the same results which have been obtained on a small 

 scale would be equally possible where larger areas were 

 being dealt with. But it is as well not to indulge in 

 expectations which may never be realised. No reasonable 

 individual who has studied the forestry question with an 

 impartial mind sees any reason to doubt the financial success 

 of intelligent planting operations. But it must also be 

 remembered that the bulk of the land under consideration 

 is characterised by great variations in depth of soil and 

 sylvicultural fertility, and that it does not always follow 

 that the return per acre possible from a plantation occupying 

 a hundred acres of carefully selected ground would be also 

 possible from one or two thousand acres in the same locality. 

 With soils that vary comparatively little in depth, such as 



