42 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



pound interest is not involved. In other words we are working on a 

 forest rent basis, i.e., what will the forest earn each year on the 

 investment ? 



Particular emphasis should be laid on the fact that today we have 

 large forests, and that any effective forestry work we do must be with 

 these forests. Therefore, we can best work on the forest rent basis. 

 Any forestry we do on bare tracts will be insignificant. The deforested 

 tracts on the National Forests have not even been planted yet, and will 

 not be for years to coihe. It is alike useless then for the nation to 

 acquire more of them or to expect the individual to undertake this 

 long time investment. Emphasis must also be laid on the fact that in 

 these Pacific Northwest forests as a whole, we are not cutting and can 

 not cut even at the rate sustained annual yield would allow. Therefore 

 all the costs of holding and caring for old timber must he home anyway 

 whether we practice forestry or not. This being true, the costs incurred 

 on account of forestry are insignificant for years to come. (See column 

 23.) By these small expenditures, however, the capital is made to produce 

 forever instead of for the period the present mature stand will last. In 

 other words, the annual cut constitutes no longer a one to two per cent 

 depletion charge on the timber investment, but an annual return on 

 this investment. Speaking nationally, we can for annual expenditures 

 of 2 to 5 million dollars a year, save a depletion charge of over 100 

 millions. 



It is needless to say that IV2 acres could not be worked on this 

 basis practically, but as the costs given are averages for large areas 

 the results per 1,000 feet b. m. are intended to be representative. 

 Therefore, results for larger tracts, or the whole region, may be esti- 

 mated roughly by multiplying any element of cost or total cost per 

 1,000 feet by the number of thotisand feet annually cut on a given tract 

 or for the region. 



Since the better forest lands here will produce over 40,000 M feet 

 volume in 60 years, it may be assimied that cutting at the rate of 1,000 

 feet b. m. per annum will go on at the same rate in the young stand after 

 the old is completely removed. Although in practice, thinnings can be 

 made to yield about 1 cord per acre per annum in addition to the final 

 yield, and can support a tremendous pulp industry in this region, they 

 have been ignored in the forestry returns. It may be said also that the 

 simple area division method will not give the best obtainable financial 

 results, but has been adopted for its simplicity. 



The writer desires to express the opinion that if his profession will 



