PERIODICAL LITERATURE 125 



large-sized timber throughout the greater part of France. The State 

 forests have accordingly been drawn on very heavily for material 

 needed for the national defense, and the forest resources of the entire 

 country have in fact been seriously depleted. 



As one means of assisting in the restoration of the French forests, 

 which will be so imperatively needed after the war, and especially of 

 encouraging the growing of high forests for the production of large- 

 sized material, the author advocates a reform in the present method 

 of forest taxation. He suggests that in the case of forests having a 

 periodic yield the land tax be based on the equivalent annual revenue 



"D 



as determined by the formula . In regulated forests hav- 



I .op° — I 



ing an annual yield that portion of the annual revenue w^iich he re- 

 gards as being produced by the soil would be subject to a land tax in 

 the same way, while the remainder would be subject only to a personal- 

 property tax, which is considerably less than the land tax. Thus, if a 

 broadleaf high forest is capable of producing a periodic yield of 6,000 

 francs per hectare every loo years, it would be subject to a land tax on 

 the basis of an annual return of 9.88 francs, while if the same forest 

 were managed so as to produce a sustained annual yield of 60 francs 

 per hectare, it would be subject to a land tax on the basis of an annual 

 return of 9.88 francs and, in addition, to a personal-property tax on 

 the basis of an annual return of 50.12 francs. 



There would seem to be considerable question as to the validity of 

 the distinction which the author makes as to the character of the return 

 from forests having periodic yields and those having sustained yields. 

 In the first case he attributes the yield entirely to the soil and in the 

 second case both to the soil and to an accumulation of wood capital. 

 As a matter of fact, from the very nature of the forest, a considerable 

 accumulation of wood capital is necessary in either case before the 

 final product can be harvested, and toward the end of the rotation this 

 accumulation is actually greater in the forest having a periodic yield 

 than in that having a sustained annual yield. The real distinction be- 

 tween the two lies in the fact that in the first case the wood capital is 

 kept practically constant, while in the second case it is subject to great 

 variations. 



There is no doubt that the proposed reform would increase the re- 

 turns of those owners who handle their forests on a sustained aiuuial- 

 yield basis, and would thus tend to encourage the practice of forest 

 management. The encouragement would be still greater, however, if 

 the proposed personal-property tax were omitted, and tlie man who 



