WHERE TO PLANT. 41 



" Equal to about thirteen per cent per annum 

 for the entire fifty years, after returning the 

 original capital invested. 



" There is no branch of agriculture at once 

 so pleasant and so productive of possible gains 

 as farming on paper. It is a dangerous pastime, 

 however, and often leads into grave errors and 

 great dangers, as the agricultural population 

 has learned to its cost. In this case it will be 

 well to be on the safe side. The larch, in com- 

 mon with other plants, is liable to disease ; it is 

 preyed upon by many insects, and our planta- 

 tions may be often injured by fire, bad manage- 

 ment, and other dangers now unforeseen. 



" In view of such chances, let us reduce the 

 total yield of our ten acres of larch a little more 

 than one half, and be content with a profit of 

 only six per cent per annum on the capital in- 

 vested." 



Such a diminution would leave us, in round 

 numbers, $24,000, as the profit of the ten acres. 



Many estimates of the returns of tree-plant- 

 ing, made by those living on the fertile soils 

 of the West, promise a much larger profit than 

 that supposed by Prof. Sargent. But whatever 



