GROWING TIMBER FOR PROFIT IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. 25 
III. Zhe Prospects of growing Timber for Profit in the United 
Kingdom. By ARCHIBALD E. Moeran, Land Agent, 
Palmerston House, Portumna, Co. Galway. 
The subject about to be discussed can be considered from two 
points of view—(1) What are the prospects that timber can be 
grown in the United Kingdom at a profit? and (2) What may 
such profits, if any, be expected to amount to? 
A difficulty presents itself at the outset. We have evidently 
to deal more with future operations than with past results. I 
think it may be taken for granted that future work in the 
United Kingdom will be much more influenced by Continental 
lessons than has been the case in the past, and that the hope of 
profit lies in the skilful adaptation of Continental methods to our 
home conditions. The natural course to take, therefore, is to 
describe the French and German methods of management, to 
quote from the accurately kept statistics of their Forestry 
Departments, and to argue from analogy that our woods should, 
and could, yield like results if treated similarly. 
Here, however, we are to confine ourselves to British data, 
although these foreign yield-tables are, after all, the most solid 
facts we possess upon which to base our calculations. And 
though to leave them out makes the subject more difficult to 
handle, it certainly makes it more interesting; and it covers 
ground which has been but lightly passed over by most writers. 
In any business enterprise dealing with the production of a 
marketable material, there are three factors which govern the 
amount of profit that can be made, and all efforts towards 
increased profits must deal with one or other of these, namely,— 
(1) Cost of production; (2) amount of material produced; and 
(3) marketable value of this material. 
Any improvement that can be accomplished in one or other of 
these factors must result in increased financial returns, presuming, 
of course, that the other two remain constant. Progress may be 
possible in two, or in all three issues at the same time, and would 
then prove all the more remunerative. Now, the growing of 
timber for profit is essentially a business enterprise, which will 
prove successful in proportion as it is in the hands of men who 
are not only skilled in their profession, but are also keen men of 
business ; and any lack of ability or inattention to detail on the 
