32 



THE FOREST EESOUECES OF THE WORLD. 



THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 



FOREST AREA. 



The forests of the United Kingdom occupy but a small proportion 

 of the total land area. The area of woodlands is estimated at 

 3,030,000 acres, or 4 per cent of the total land area. Table 9 gives 

 the proportion of land used for different purposes : 



Table 9. — Utilization of land in the United Kingdom. 



Countries. 



Acres of 

 dry land. 



Acres under 



crops and 



grass. 



Acres of 

 forests. 



Acres of 



mountain 



and heath 



land. 



Acres of 

 other lands. 



England 



Wales .- 



Scotland 



Isle of Man and Jersey 

 Ireland 



Total 



Percentage 



32,380,991 



4, 748, 468 



19, 068, 958 



185, 453 



19, 322, 798 



24, 679, 966 



2, 810, 824 



4,897,169 



124, 650 



15,230,591 



1,665,741 

 181,610 



878, 765 



2,324,624 

 1,270,470 

 9, 289, 378 

 29, 729 

 2,226,867 



3,710,660 



485,564 



4,003,646 



30, 205 



1,562,317 



75,706,668 | 47,743,200 | 3,030,008 [ 15,141,068 



9,792,392 



100 



63 I 



13 



The area under forest per capita is one- tenth of an acre. The area 

 of woodland is smaller than that of any other European country 

 except Denmark. Crown forests comprise only some 67,000 acres, or 

 2 1 per cent, which is smaller than in any other European state. 

 There are no communal forests. Of the total forest area, 97f per 

 cent, or 2,963,000 acres, is m the hands of large private owners. 



ANNUAL CUT, CONSUMPTION, AND GROWTH. 



The total cut in the United Kingdom for certain periods amounted 

 to: 1855-59, 125,703,600 cubic feet;« 1875-79, 131,353,200 cubic feet; 

 and 1895-99, 138,062,100 cubic feet. 



Thus the average cut per acre may be accepted as equal to 45.5 

 cubic feet per year. Assuming that in England only the annual incre- 

 ment is cut, the annual growth would be equal to the total cut. Mul- 

 hull estimated that the annual growth per acre is equal to 60 cubic 

 feet, in which case the total annual growth would be 181,800,000 cubic 

 feet. The United Kingdom not only uses all that is cut, but is im- 

 pelled to import nearly five times that amount. 



The total annual consumption and the per capita consumption for 

 a period of years are given in the following table : 



Annual and per capita consumption, in cubic feet, for certain periods. 



Period. 



Produced at 

 home. 



Imported. 



Total. 



Per 

 capita. 



1855-59 - . 



125,703,600 

 131,353,200 

 138, 062, 100 



84,037,800 

 329,442,300 

 533,181,000 



209,741,400 

 460,795,500 

 671,243,100 



27.2 



1875-79 - - - 



12.0 



1895-99 



14.0 











Thus the per capita consumption is 14 cubic feet. Half of the total 

 annual cut is firewood; therefore the consumption of timber is 602,- 

 212,000, and of firewood is 69,031,000 cubic feet; or the per capita 

 consumption of timber is 12.8 cubic feet, and of fuel is 1.2 cubic feet. 



flBericlite liber Handlung und Industrie 1900, 598. 



