FINANCE 99 



figures, such as belief in its rare qualities and 

 a hope for improved prices in the future. 



In the case of planting larch, it is possible 

 to make some approximate guesses about the 

 date of harvest and amount of produce, and 

 it is not unreasonable to assume that the 

 market-price of the produce will, when the 

 plantation is mature, be at least no lower than 

 it is now. 



There are no statistics available to show the 

 date of the maturity of larch or the quantity of 

 timber or the profit likely to be produced under 

 average circumstances by a larch wood in 

 England; and considering the great variety of 

 conditions of soil, situation, haulage, and market, 

 it is probable that statistics of the average 

 plantation would prove very little about any 

 particular plantation. The public journals fre- 

 quently publish accounts of profits made by 

 timber-planting, but these refer to successful 

 plantations and no mention is made of failures. 

 As a rough approximation to truth it may be 

 said that most larch plantations cease to grow 

 vigorously after about fifty-five years. Many 

 grow to seventy years, and some exceptionally 

 good trees in favourable situations are profitably 

 left to ninety or one hundred years, but fifty- 



