76 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



estimated to be plantable with profit, and the yield from 

 this, amounting to 43,000 acres, may be estimated at 50 

 cubic feet per acre per annum, with an average value of 

 4d. per cubic foot, or 16s. per acre. This gives a gross 

 return of £34,000, to which the possible grazing value of 

 the unutilised third may have to be added in making up 

 the total yield. As, however, this remainder must consist 

 of the worst portion of the rentable land, and lie more or 

 less separated from the enclosed area by a fringe of wood- 

 land, its value can scarcely be more than Is. 3d. per acre, 

 or 5s. gross return, equal to £10,750, making roughly a 

 total of £44,000 altogether. The distribution of the 16s. 

 per acre would be somewhat as follows : — 



Labour — one man per 120 acres, . . 8s. 

 Materials — tools, housing, etc., . . .2s. 



Rates, taxes, etc., Is. 



Interest on capital investment, . . . 5s. 



16s. 



In the above estimate supervision is included in the 

 labour bill, and the rate of interest represented by 5s. per 

 acre would probably be about 1 per cent, on a capital 

 investment of about £25 per acre.^ The chief differences 

 resulting from the two methods of utilising the land are 

 the higher gross yield per acre, and greater expenses of 

 labour in the case of afforestation. The nett yield per 

 acre, in the form of profit to the owner and occupier, is 

 less in the case of afforestation, but the benefit to the 

 working community is very much greater than is the case 

 with sheep-farming, three times as much being spent in 

 labour in growing the crop alone. 



In actual practice, however, it is certain that the results 

 would differ more or less from those assumed above. 



^ See chap. viii. p. 234. 



