GROWING GOLD. 129 



report of its officers before the committee on 

 shipwrecks. It ought to have demanded 

 the attention of the commissioners of woods 

 and forests to the subject, as it is of such 

 vital importance to the royal navy ; but it is 

 in every way entitled to the attention of the 

 House of Commons. A report has indeed 

 been made that there are fifteen millions of 

 acres of waste land in the united kingdom ; if 

 only one thirtieth part thereof was applied to 

 the cultivation of timber, the produce, if all 

 sold at the present price of timber, would 

 eventually realize a sum exceeding the na- 

 tional debt. If five thousand acres were 

 planted annually, for a century, at the end 

 of that time there would be five hundred 

 thousand acres. The cutting might then 

 commence on those first planted. Taking 

 only two hundred trees per acre, at ten 

 pounds each, a revenue of ten million pounds 

 per annum, for a century, would be obtained. 

 It is clear that a large revenue might be 

 derived from this source. The whole amount 

 now drawn from the pockets of the consumers 



