54 ANNUAL REPORT OF 



That depends upon the character of the soil, the size 

 of the timber and the condition of the lumber market. 

 An examination of the forest by a skilled forester shows 

 that 500 acres, or one-half of it, consists of mixed pine and 

 hardwood timber growing on good loamy soil with clay 

 subsoil suitable when cleared for agriculture; and that 

 the other half consists of wholly pine forest on soil that 

 is too sandy for agriculture. 



We are to assume all the while that this forest is to be 

 treated so as to yield, not for to-day only, but for a long 

 series of years, the largest financial return without impair- 

 ment of the capital; in other words, we are not to kill the 

 goose that lays the golden egg. Very well, how then 

 shall we proceed? We are to suppose that the half of 

 the forest on good soil contains yellow birch, basswood, 

 maple, poplar and some oak trees, mixed with consider- 

 able pine; and the pine is from 80 to 100 years old, of 

 good merchantable size, and that it is not earning by its 

 growth more than about two percent interest on its value; 

 that most of the hardwood trees are mature, that many 

 of them are suitable for timber and the balance good for 

 fuel. Now, it is plain that if these trees are within rea- 

 sonable reach of a market and there is a fair demand for 

 such timber then they should all be cut and their value 

 turned into money at the first convenient period, and that 

 the land on which they stand should be used in the future 

 for raising wheat, grass or some other field crop. Be- 

 cause, of course, a larger income can be got from the land 

 in raising annual field crops than in raising crops of trees, 

 which on such land would require 50 years to reach mer- 

 chantable size. 



Now, about the other half of the forest on sandy soil 

 which is too light for farming purposes. On these 500 

 acres we find that the trees are mostly red pine, common- 

 ly called Norway pine (improperly so-called however, 



