Now that the Government is being urged seriously to consider the question of afforestation, it may be opportune on my part, as one of the earliest writers on the subject, to briefly recall what has already been done in this matter, and to offer some remarks on planting waste lands, with special reference to cost and the financial returns therefrom. For the past thirty years I have not failed to urge on the State and private owners of woodlands the pressing necessity for planting up some at least of the waste and unprofitable lands of our country, in order to provide a sufficiency of timber for the future and leave us less dependent on the supplies that are annually sent us from abroad. As stated elsewhere, when we consider that the total area of woodlands in this country is only a little over 3,029,000 acres, that fully 15,000,000 acres of waste lands exist, and that we annually import over 10,000,000 tons of timber, at a cost of about £25,000,000, the necessity for an increased area of woodlands, so that a portion at least of this vast sum may be kept at home, will be apparent to all, and the more so as a dearth of timber is imminent, and outside supplies are being rigidly conserved, while our home demands are ever on the increase. England being, so to speak, a residential country, the retention of a certain amount of heath, mountain and common lands, for the purpose of deer forests, grouse moors, game coverts and golfing links is imperative, and will considerably reduce the acreage of land available for afforesting purposes. But I think that I am well within bounds in alloting out of the 15,000,000 acres of waste land 1,000,000 to afforesting and 14,000,000 to game preserves, deer forests and rough pasture. Having personally explored much of the mountain and heath lands in England and Scotland, and some of the vast tracts of bog land in Ireland (the latter extending to fully one million acres), I have carefully computed that of land up to 1,200 feet altitude, where timber would grow perfectly well, about 9,000,000 acres are available for afforesting purposes. As far as I have been able to find out, the average rental of the ground referred to is a fraction under 3_s_. per acre, and I am quite confident that any land which does not bring in at least three times that amount for grazing or agricultural purposes would be more profitably employed in carrying a crop of timber.