WOOD-LOTS ON FARMS 27 
the pleasures of the woods. The purchase of vast 
forest estates by wealthy men should be encouraged. 
The country is rendered more beautiful, and sur- 
rounding lands are in many ways benefited. Much 
of our waste mountain land must come ultimately 
either into the hands of the State or of wealthy per- 
sons. The influence of one large, well-cared-for es- 
tate is felt far beyond its boundaries. An example of 
this kind was set by Mr. Vanderbilt at Biltmore. 
Others have followed, and as time goes on they will 
increase in numbers. On each of these estates there 
is place for a well-trained forester who knows some- 
thing also of landscape art, of road construction, 
and surveying. In the British Isles and on the 
Continent of Europe there are thousands of such es- 
tates, many of which yield handsome returns in dol- 
lars and cents. The purchase of forest land is often 
practised for purely business reasons, in order to 
secure a permanent investment. It is, as Romero of 
Mexico once said: ‘‘ Everywhere the world over the 
man who gets the lands and holds on to them is the 
wealthy man. Speculators and financiers come and 
go like bubbles on a river, but the landed proprietor 
keeps a permanent clinch on humanity.” Two classes 
of proprietors are not worthy of consideration in this 
connection. First, the speculator who buys land to 
sell again without improving it, and, second, the man 
