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SCIENCE PROGRESS 



So that if forest be admitted essential for agricultural and 

 industrial requirements, in no European country is the need for 

 extension greater than in the United Kingdom, whether the 

 basis of comparison be area or population. 



The Employment of Capital 



In forestry, as in other undertakings, the employment of 

 capital is necessary in order to render the land productive. The 

 capital takes the form of roads, buildings and implements ; but 

 these are insignificant in comparison with the circulating capital, 

 the growing stock. 



This capital, comprising the cost of preparing, planting and 

 protecting the area, steadily increases with the accumulation of 

 compound interest on the original outlay. Apart from the 

 initial cost the rate of interest employed and the length of the 

 rotation chiefly determine the extent to which this capital 

 accumulates. This intimate relation of forestry to the rate of 

 interest was realised in England as long ago as 1623 when 

 Thomas Culpepper pointed out that without a reduction in the 

 customary rate no owner could afford to retain timber trees. 

 Greatly as financial conditions have changed since then, the 

 difficulty has not even now entirely disappeared, and the justi- 

 fication for forestry generally is still rather to be found in its 

 indirect benefits and means it affords for the employment of 

 much land and labour than in the actual return on a capital 

 invested in it. 



Without a doubt the existing 3,000,000 acres of woodlands 



