GROWING TIMBER. T25 
is of plantation growth, and costs of formation and management 
have to be borne, which render strict economy essential. Yet the 
annual net returns from these forests vary between five and fifteen 
shillings per acre where the State forest department brings its 
highly trained and efficient skill to bear upon their management. 
One thing is especially noticeable in these forests, and that is their 
comparatively unmixed nature. Mixtures of many different species, 
which are so common with us, are never seen in them; and although 
other species than that of the main crop may be introduced, yet the 
maturing and development of the latter is always kept in view. 
The importance of this latter point cannot be overestimated when 
growing timber for profit, when we consider that this profit is 
almost entirely dependent upon the adoption of the proper rotation. 
If, therefore, this point is neglected, a loss is bound to occur 
through cutting the crop either too late or too early, and this loss 
may be further aggravated by market fluctuations. 
One of the most important factors in growing a profitable crop 
of timber is the soil, which, of course, must always be considered 
with the situation. There are many soils and situations in which 
timber cannot be grown at a pecuniary profit. Amongst such 
may be mentioned thin peats or gravels overlying rock, on exposed 
hill-tops and sides, sour swamps which cannot be drained without 
a considerable outlay, and poor soils in high-lying and remote 
localities, where the yield is too small and the demand too poor to 
render a profit possible. The afforestation of such lands is an 
important question, nevertheless, but it is one which concerns the 
State rather than the individual proprietor, who looks for a reason- 
able profit in return for his outlay. 
Next to the soil itself, the selection of the proper species for 
planting it must be attended to. Although the precise geological 
formation has no material influence upon tree-growth, yet we often 
find certain species predominant on formations of a distinctly pro- 
nounced character as regards their mineral constituents—such, for 
instance, as beech on chalk or limestone, oak on soils rich in potash, 
or Scots pine on sandy or siliceous tracts. There is little doubt that 
the quality of a particular kind of timber, for which a certain district 
has a reputation, is closely connected with the soil, and although 
this and other conditions appear similar to those existing in many 
other localities, there is a something which neither soil analysis 
nor surroundings can account for, but which produces a certain crop 
better in quantity or quality than the average. 
