PURE FORESTS AND MIXED FORESTS. 17 



annual increase bear to the capital value of the forest — soil and 

 growing stock. 



You will readily understand that this question opens up a series 

 of intricate problems, the study of which to a practical Scottish or 

 English forester may seem a useless waste of time. Compared 

 with an old wood, the selling value of a plantation which has 

 attained the pole stage, say at the age of from thirty to forty years, 

 is small. At that period of their life trees grow with great 

 rapidity, and the annual increment represents a high percentage 

 of the capital value of the forest. As the trees grow older the 

 value of the timber increases, and the annual increment naturally 

 represents a steadily diminishing percentage on the capital value 

 of the soil and the timber crop standing on it. At last a stage 

 is reached at which it Avould be more profitable to cut the wood 

 and to invest the proceeds in Government securities, at say 3 per 

 cent., than to let the forest stand and grow older. 



In the State forests of Saxony, and in large areas of woodlands 

 on private estates in Germany, which are managed on a similar 

 system, the general rule is to cut the wood when that stage has 

 been reached, that is when the annual increment falls below 3 per 

 cent, on the capital value of the forest. Experience has shown 

 that when Spruce forests in Saxony are over eighty years old, the 

 proportion of the annual increment to the capital value of the 

 forest has fallen below the rate at which money can be invested 

 in Government securities. Hence woods that have attained the 

 age of eighty years as a rule are cut. In that way these forests 

 are managed, and the result, so far as money goes, is quite 

 wonderful. The return of these pure spruce woods on the 

 Erzgebirge, after deducting all outlay of whatever kind, is 32s. 

 an acre. This is the average yield on an area of more than a 

 hundred thousand acres. That is an instance of pure forests 

 which I wished to mention to you. 



But in spite of all precautions there are drawbacks. First, the 

 wind plays havoc with spruce woods, when they are pure, to a 

 much greater extent than is the case in mixed woods. Secondly, 

 insects do an immense deal of damage. And here I may be 

 allowed to mention a forest area in the kingdom of Bavaria, a 

 much larger country than Sixony, but, like Saxony, exceedingly 

 rich in forests, which, though as a rule managfd on an entirely 

 different system, are in splendid condition. Bavaria is not as 

 densely inhabited as Saxony. South of Munich, not far from the 



