268 THE DEVELOPMENT OF BRITISH FORESTRY 



Assuming that the acquisition of the 2,400,000 acres of 

 State woodland would be spread over a period of 100 

 years, and that the purchase price of the land averaged 

 £5 per acre, an annual sum of £120,000 would be required 

 for land purchase. Working expenses and management 

 would average, throughout the whole period, about 

 £1,000,000, beginning with the small sum of £20,000 or 

 so, and gradually increasing with the area acquired. 

 Allowing for contingencies, the average annual cost of a 

 forestry scheme as outlined above would be somewhere 

 about a million and a quarter, disregarding compound 

 interest. 



The capital value of the 2,400,000 acres might be 

 estimated at the end of the hundred years to be about 

 £60 per acre for land and timber at present prices, or 

 £144,000,000, and the annual yield about 1,000,000 loads, 

 Avorth, at present prices, again, 30s. per load, or £1,500,000, 

 or about 1 per cent, of the capital value. The financial 

 aspects of afforestation on the above estimate are, there- 

 fore, not particularly bright, but a rise in the price of 



