24 THE PRINCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



the lumbermen will use the stands which are now from 6 

 to 12 inches in diameter. Far-sighted owners who hold 

 and protect these stands will furnish the stumpage of the 

 immediate future. Their profit will be high, partly 

 through the growth of the trees and partly through the 

 increase in the stumpage value of trees of moderate 

 size. 



Investments of this sort should attract capital, even 

 under our present conditions. The original investment 

 called for is comparatively small, and both sure and early 

 profits are clearly in sight. The forestry which will 

 most generally appeal to private owners now is of this 

 class, where thrifty and rapidly growing trees can be 

 reserved as a basis for later cutting at the same time that 

 renewal of the forest for an entirely new crop is pro- 

 vided for. 



Investments in Natural Reproduction. One serious 

 objection which may be raised to the foregoing presenta- 

 tion of an opening for private forestry is that it is fores- 

 try with forestry left out; for earlier in this chapter it was 

 shown that reproduction is necessary in order to have true 

 forestry. The average American lumberman has not been 

 much more interested in natural reproduction than in 

 plantations. He is interested in a conservative forest 

 policy, which will mean a return in 10, 15, or 25 years. 

 It is hard for him to interest himself in returns one 

 or two generations hence. Nevertheless, the question of 

 reproduction is well worth his attention on practical 

 grounds, even though he has not the interest of the 



