REPORT ON FOREST TREES. 31 



each, or $300 per acre, $3000 00 



Deduct the cost up to the expiration of this period, 1312 00 



And there remains a profit of $1688 00 



after paying interest and expenses. 



For the next twenty years, the cost of thinning, -which 

 is the only expense, ■vvill be more than balanced by 

 the increase in value of the wood cut, at 30 cents 

 per tree, over that valuation. During that time, 

 the trees will have been thinned to about 400 trees 

 per acre, which is about the number of timber trees 

 that can be grown to full size. These trees would 

 be worth for fuel merely, as they stand, at least $5 

 per tree, any where in Essex County, or $2000 

 per acre. The account then would stand, at the 

 end of forty years, thus : 



Profit at the end of 20 years, 1,688 00 



400 trees per acre, at thd end of 40 years, at $5 



per tree, 20,000 00 



$21,688 00 



Less previous value given on same, at 30 cents per 



tree, remaining, 1,200 00 



$20,488 00 



"Which sum, large as it may appear, shows the smallest profit to 

 be anticipated from an oak plantation of ten acres, upon suitable 

 land, of a medium quality, at the expiration of forty years from the 

 time of planting. 



On a poor dry rocky soil, the Scotch larch would offer as marked 

 a profit. Its wood is almost indestructible, and the rapidity of its 

 growth is astonishing. Though similar to the American larch or 

 hackmatack in appearance, it is totally opposite in habit, the latter 

 flourishing only in wet humid soils, and the former in soils of a dry 

 and gravelly nature. The seed can be imported through Messrs. 

 Hovey & Co., of Boston, or seedhng plants can be obtained, at a 

 very low cost, say from one to three dollars per thousand, according 

 to size. 



