10 



COMPLETE YIELD TABLES FOR BRITISH WOODLANDS 



Annual Income from Normally Stocked Areas. 



-The amounts given in this column, as also in the 

 column of land rentals, must, generally speaking, be 

 regarded as maximum results, as it is presumed that 

 the areas under timber are large, and consequently 

 working expenses have been estimated at a very 

 low value. However, occasionally the cost of plant- 

 ing will be less than 5, as instanced ; but then, on 

 the other hand, it will often be very much more, 

 for the cost of fencing, replacing "deaths," and keep- 

 ing young plantations free from rank growth for 

 the first two or three years is also included in this sum 

 of 5 per acre. 



Now, when speaking of a normally stocked area, the 

 presumption is raised that a given area is so stocked 

 that a succession of correctly grown, mature crops of 

 equal volume can be harvested annually from the 

 present time onwards. Thus there are crops of all ages 

 from one year old up to maturity. 



And whereas the annual income from such an area 

 is often very considerable, yet it has to be remembered 

 that the average accumulated capital per acre over such 

 an area is also very considerable. 



This "locked up" capital may vary from about 25 

 up to 400 per acre, according to the length of the 



rotation, the cost of planting, and the original value of 

 the land before it was planted, etc. 



For instance, in the case of Scots Pine grown upon 

 an 80-year rotation, if the land were to cost 7 and the 

 planting 5 (12 in all), the average " locked up " capital 

 would be 70 per acre ; whereas, in the case of 

 Oak grown upon a 120-year rotation, if the land 

 were worth 20 an acre and if the planting cost 7 

 per acre, the average "locked up" capital would be 

 400 per acre. 1 



However, it must be distinctly understood that this 

 "locked up" capital represents the average capital 

 value of money which has been already spent on any 

 given area, and is not the average present saleable value of 

 any such area, which is, in so many cases, very much less. 



Advocates for afforestation are very prone to quote 

 statistics showing the average income from some 

 Continental forest which is more or less normally 

 stocked, and these annual returns often appear to 

 contrast very favourably with the present rents obtained 

 from agricultural land. But evidence such as this is 

 most misleading, unless the average accumulated debt 

 per acre is also stated. It is much to be feared that 



1 I'ide Chapter XII. of The Practice of Forestry, where the matter 

 is dealt with at some length. 



