FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF AFFORESTATION 229 



by the Duke of Bedford in 1897.^ On a little more than 

 4000 acres of woodland the income and expenditure 

 during a period of sixty years were as follows : — 



The high returns during the first period were evidently 

 due to heavy clearings or fellings, entailing increased 

 expenditure during the second period. If the average 

 balance is accepted as normal, the interest on capital 

 expenditure must be deducted before the nett profits are 

 obtained. This would certainly not be less than £40 per 

 acre, taking the class of land on these estates into 

 account, and would probably be nearer the figure given 

 in Table vi., or £60 per acre. With the former figure a 

 loss of 3s. 4d. per acre is shown on a 3 per cent, basis, 

 with the latter a loss of 15s. 4d. But in the absence of 

 exact figures regarding initial outlay, the stock of standing 

 timber, and the extent of the annual fellings, much must 

 be left to conjecture. 



The second instance refers to a wood of about 200 

 acres in Cumberland, lying at an elevation of from 900 

 to 1500 feet. As the data relating to this plantation are 

 given in great detail in the journal of the Board of 

 Agriculture and Fisheries for July and August 1910, only 

 the general conclusions arrived at by Messrs. Robinson 

 and Watt (the authors of the article in the journal) need 

 be given here. These gentlemen found that a larch 

 plantation of sixty-one years of age, growing on land 



^ A Great Agricultural Estate. 



