184 
WASTE-LAND PLANTING. 
on all hands by hedgerow trees, and. her 
heights well clothed with every species of 
timber. Such is the pictui'e usually presented 
of England, and such indeed is her character 
in a great measure. Her leafy nooks are every- 
where : her parks and lawns, the richest and 
greenest on the earth, are thickly set ; and 
about these are her noblest ornaments, her 
old and wide-spreading trees. Thus it is that, 
in almost every quarter, her out-of-door ap- 
pearance is sti'ictly sylvan. Even on her 
mountains, her voice is often heard among 
the thick boughs. Yet, at the same time, 
there are throughout England many moors and 
wastes, in every respect suited for planting, 
which the spirit for improvement has not yet 
overtaken. Passing a few of the richer coun- 
ties around London, the traveller soon espies 
tracts of unimproved lands, in many cases 
lying as low as those parts which are culti- 
vated. Around Newmarket and Thetford, in 
Suffolk, and in the same quarter in Norfolk, 
there are immense sandy heaths in a state of 
nature. Along the coast, between Yarmouth 
and Lynn, in the latter county, is a long 
stretch of land adapted for nothing else than 
the most hardy timber trees. In Cambridge- 
shire, though low and fenny, vast and cheerless 
solitudes are yet unenlivened with verdure ; 
and over these there is consequently scarcely 
any show of animated nature. Lincolnshire, 
though possessing one of the richest tracts of 
land in the kingdom, has its wide heathy, 
unimproved districts. Leicester, Nottingham, 
Northampton and Warwick, have their waste 
places ; and in proceeding to Derby, and the 
north generally, it is found that a great pro- 
portion of the land is not yet subjected to the 
dominion of man. The mountains of North 
and South Wales, presenting the most appro- 
priate and beautiful sites for fine woods, seem 
as if they were cast out from the pale of living 
men; and if a green speck be discerned, 
how little has it accomplished in the way of 
persuading others to extend their labours ! 
The great object of planters has been profit, 
direct profit on so many square feet of timber; 
and on account of the distance from roads, or 
from a shipping port, or from an otherwise con- 
venient market, the trees have not, it is said, 
brought a remunerative price to the grower. 
This, no doubt, has been the case in many in- 
stances; but in others, it is very manifest that 
the trees should have been cut down and used 
where they grew, or in the immediate neigh- 
bourhood. A Frenchman, a German, or even a 
Scotchman, in traversing England, is very much 
struck with the appearance of huge mounds 
and embankments, raised to divide the fields 
between man and man, which are known by 
the name of fences, as it is on these embank- 
ments that hedges are planted. On such sites, 
a hedge will require at least twelve years 
before it comes to maturity, if indeed it will 
ever become perfect in such places ; whilst if 
planted on the plain surface, it will present 
an impenetrable barrier in five or six years. 
It seems astonishing, then, that the former 
mode should be resorted to ; but on inquiry, 
it is found that the secret lies in the scarcity 
of fir wood to form a protection to newly 
planted fences, when made on the plain surface 
of the ground ; the plan, but for the scarcity 
of wood alluded to, would be universally fol- 
lowed throughout England. Here, therefore, 
is an important outlet, at least for all the thin- 
nings of plantations in the neighbourhood of 
corn and pasture districts ; and as the employ- 
ment of fence-wood for young hedges, planted 
on the plain surface of the soil, would not 
only be the means of securing to us fences 
much more effectual, and in a much shorter 
period, but also enable us to save an almost 
incredible space of land, it may not be out of 
place to pause a moment, in order to consider 
the latter fact a little more fully. Whatever is 
got from the space occupied by the sites on 
which fences are at present erected, must be 
good land, ready for tillage ; and the import- 
ance of the inquiry is on this account greatly 
enhanced. In order to get at an approxima- 
tion to the truth, let us select a district in 
England on which to ground our calculations; 
and lest our data should be too favourable, let 
us fix upon Norfolk, an open county, noted 
for its large enclosures, and consequently, 
compared with other counties, distinguished 
by the small space occupied with fences. Ac- 
cording to Arthur Young, this county con- 
tains 1,171,200 acres of land, of which 130,000 
are unimproved ; which, with the space occu- 
pied with gentlemen's seats, &c, will probably 
reduce the arable and pasture lands to 1,000,000 
acres, or a space of 1562^ square miles. 
Taking an average of those square miles, it is 
found that the fences alone occupy at least 
five per cent, of the space, or five acres in 
every hundred, or thirty-two acres in every 
square mile. In Devonshire, some of the fences 
are a perch in width, and the per-centage 
is as high as eight and a half, or one acre in 
every twelve ; but adhering to the most mo- 
derate calculation, at five per cent., which is 
at least one-half more than what is necessary, 
the space gained in Norfolk alone would be 
about 25,000 acres of the richest and best 
land in the county, and all this by the simple 
process of planting pine and fir- wood ; so that 
the thinnings might be applied as posts and 
rails, to protect properly-formed hedges ! Ap- 
plying the figures to all England, a space equal 
to a new county, every inch of which w r ould 
bear corn, is at once thrown open to our in- 
creasing population. 
