To this must be added the prospective value of thinnings, estimated to yield 80 cubic 

 feet per acre from the twelfth year, vrorth Ols. the cubic foot ; giving from the twelfth 

 year 200,000 cubic feet a year, worth 1,000 ; or a capital value of 28,571, and a 

 present value of 18,908. Thus, after the twelfth year, thinnings may almost pay the 

 interest on the outlay incurred on the plantation. 



I do not pretend that these figures will be realised in practice, and they have been 

 given chiefly as an example of the financial conditions of a plantation. However, the 

 result is remarkable, because it has been arrived at by using the at present most probable 

 data. It often seems in the nature of an estimate to be unreliable ; but in the case of 

 our Gum plantation we may double the cost of production and halve the returns, and yet 

 find a wide margin between revenue and expenditure. I have no hesitation in saying 

 that the cultivation of Eucalypts would repay much more than the outlay. In Burope y 

 forests barely return three per cent, on their cost, or their value ; but here the conditions 

 are quite different : the land has a smaller value, the species proposed to be planted grow 

 much faster, and the produce has a greater market value. The growth of trees generally^ 

 in Natal, is indeed not surpassed by that in any other part of the world, that I am aware 

 of ; and South Africa, being one of the most poorly regions in the world, with a rapidly 

 increasing population, markets close at hand will always be found for a large quantity of 

 timber. 



Comparing the estimated returns on outlay that are given above, for a Gum plantation f 

 we see that a short rotation is the most profitable. As with timber from the native forests, 

 large pieces of timber from plantations would not command in South Africa a much 

 greater price than smaller logs suitable for cutting into lumber of small dimensions. 

 Taking into consideration the greater loss arising in cutting up small logs, the maximum 

 usefulness is attained when they reach a diameter of 2 feet ; which, for Gum plantations,, 

 means a period of 25 years. To allow for the risk of destruction by fires, &c., it will be 

 preferable to adopt a period of 35 years ; which can be done at the end of 25 years' when 

 the whole series will have been planted, by cutting over only ^th of the area every year, 

 instead of ^th. 



By lengthening thus the rotation, other advantages follow : a kind of reserve fund is- 

 provided to meet sudden large demands for timber ; and the smaller trees which are 

 always found in the most regular growth, will have become large enough to be converted 

 into any ordinary lumber. It is true that the yield will now vary, but it will vary 

 uniformly, increasing progressively with the demand. The timber will become gradually 

 larger, more serviceable, and of better quality ; and possibly the trees will be old enough 

 to secure natural reproduction from the second period. In a country destitute of timber, 

 it is admissible to begin, in this manner, on a financial rotation and gradually work up to 

 a rotation giving the maximum return in timber. 



