494 TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



XLII. Report showing the Financial Results of the Cultivation 

 of Timber. By D. F. Mackenzie, F.S.I., Mortonhall, 

 Midlothian. 



Under present circumstances it is scarcely possible to estimate 

 exactly the financial results of woods and plantations grown in 

 this country, owing to the many uses to which they lend them 

 selves. When judiciously placed, they are of great pecuniary 

 advantage to the surrounding district, on account of the shelter 

 afforded and the other amenities arising from their presence. 

 When properly managed, the direct financial profits are very con- 

 siderable, as will be shown later on. In valuing woods and 

 plantations, more often than not no notice is taken of their in- 

 direct advantages, and seldom is any account taken of the timber 

 used for estate purposes ; in fact, in eight cases out of ten the 

 writer could get no information as to the quantity or value of 

 wood cut and employed in the maintenance of the properties. 

 Sales of thinnings and final clearings are all that have been 

 entered to the credit of the Forestry Department of many 

 estates ; but in very few cases has anything approaching a com- 

 plete record been kept. 



Given proper management, or at least fair management, in all 

 details, it ought to be, and is, quite possible to determine the value 

 of a given area of plantations. Bad management upsets every 

 calculation of profits in this as in any other business. 



Land is said to be a bad or a good investment, according to 

 the continuous yearly returns it yields in the shape of rents. 

 Therefore Forestry, or Sylviculture, should be carried on in such 

 a way as to give the greatest possible rent continuously. But to 

 do this, a system of management different from that at present 

 practised in this country must be adopted. Probably the best 

 way to illustrate this would be to take a given piece of land at 

 its highest present rental for any and all purposes, — say 1000 

 acres, of a present yearly value of 3s. per acre. The total yearly 

 rent will be £150, which, capitalised at twenty-five years' pur- 

 chase, represents £3750. Hence, taking 3| per cent, as the 

 rate of interest, the yearly revenue to be produced continuously 

 from the plantation would be £131, 5s., plus interest on cost of 

 planting and cost of management and taxes. The question at 

 ouce arises, Will any land of this value in this country produce a 

 continual net yearly rent or revenue of 3^ per cent, on the total 



