FINANCIAL RESULTS OF THE CULTIVATION OF TIMBER. 495 



outlays ? The reply is in the affirmative, provided always that 

 the woods are planted and managed so as to yield permanently 

 the greatest mass of timber of the best quality. A good example 

 of how the woods on an estate should be managed was given 

 some time ago by a writer signing himself "N. N." As an 

 illustration, he gives a block or blocks of timbered land 800 

 acres in extent, with a rotation of eighty years. Ten acres were 

 felled, and the like area planted each year. He shows that the 

 gross annual returns from the 800 acres amount to £1377, 12s., 

 and the total yearly expenses to £138, 13s. 4d., leaving the net 

 yearly revenue £1238, 18s. 8d. He concludes, from the amount of 

 the rent, that the land as capital is value for £7881, Is. 2d.; and he 

 contends that the timber thereon had a value of £33,416, 14s. 4d. 

 He shows the rent to be 3 per cent, on £7881, Is. 2d., and that 

 therefore an area with a rotation of eighty years can furnish an 

 equal yearly revenue continuously, the stock of which would 

 represent a capital of more than four times the value of the land. 

 He shows further that, after paying a ground-rent of 5s. lid. 

 per acre annually for the 800 acres, the block produces a forest 

 rent of 32s. per acre annually. He also shows that the total 

 value of the 800 acres, stock and land, amounts to £45,920. 



Thus — 



£4,622 4 6 as working capital ; 



33,416 14 4 as timber capital ; and 



7,881 1 2 as ground capital. 



Total, £45,920 



This is, however, beyond the purpose of this paper, and there- 

 fore need not be pursued further. 



In order to get the necessary information and corroborative 

 evidence to show whether woodlands pay or not, the writer sent 

 out a considerable number of circulars, asking for information on 

 the following points : — 



1. Extent and age of woodlands to which replies refer. 



2. Value of land per acre previous to its being planted. 



3. Cost of fencing, draining, and planting, and any other 



necessary initial outlay. 



4. Cost of management, including taxes. 



5. System of management. 



6. Value of thinnings. 



7. Value of timber taken for estate purposes. 



