20 DIRECT UTILITY OF FORE8T8. 



are sources of danger to the i)ro(luce of the land. In the case 

 of field crops, the produce of only one or a few years at a time 

 is exposed to such dangers, but m forestry the whole of the 

 growing stock, or an accumulation of many years' produce, is 

 constantly liable to be affected ; on the other hand, a forest . 

 crop is, as a rule, less susceptible to damage than the more I 

 tender field crops. The greatest dangers which threaten the 

 growing stock are those from fire, insects and storms. A fire 

 may destroy the whole of the growing stock, especially in 

 coniferous forests ; insects do often considerable damage by 

 killing or injuring the trees, while storms may uproot at one 

 time such large numbers of trees that the material becomes 

 almost unsaleable, apart from the fact that young woods may 

 be seriously injured. Such damage can, however, be kept 

 within narrow limits by careful management. 



(4.) Mistakes made in the cultivation of field crops can 

 generally be rectified after the lapse of one year, while in 

 forestry often long periods pass before this is practicable. If, 

 for instance, the forester selects a w^rong species for planting, 

 he will probably not find out his mistake until many years 

 afterwards, as most indigenous species do almost equally well 

 on ordinary soil for a series of years; those unsuited to a 

 certain locality will, in most cases, commence falling oft" in 

 growth only some twenty or thirty years after planting. It 

 follows that greater care and skill is required in forestry 

 than in the cultivation of field crops, so as to avoid initial 

 mistakes. 



(5.) Timber and fuel are bulky articles which do not bear 

 transport, especially overland, to the same extent as the 

 better classes of field crops. Hence the produce of forests 

 must be consumed within a limited radius of the spot 

 where it has been produced, unless water carriage is 

 available. 



(6.) The danger of trenching on capital is much greater in 

 forestry than in other branches of agriculture. A farmer 

 may to some extent reduce the value of his land by over 



