318 ARBOR DAY 



wishes to dispose of its product, but who cannot, 

 or will not, sell the forest itself. State forests, like 

 those in the Adirondacks, often render their best 

 service, in addition to their usefulness as protection 

 forests, by producing the greatest net money return. 



Regarded as an investment of capital, a forest is 

 most useful when it yields the highest rate of interest. 

 A forest whose owner could sell it if he chose, but 

 prefers to hold it as productive capital, is useful in 

 proportion to the interest it yields on the money 

 invested in it. Thus, an acre of sprout land may 

 be worth only $5, while the investment in adjoining 

 land stocked with old trees may be $50 an acre. 

 This is the view which controls the management of 

 state forests in Germany. Lumbermen also regard 

 timberland as an investment, but usually they take 

 no care except for the yield at the moment. They 

 disregard the future yield altogether, and in con- 

 sequence the forest loses its capital value, or may 

 even be totally destroyed. Well- managed forests, 

 on the other hand, are made to yield their service 

 always without endangering the future yield, and 

 usually to its great advantage. Like the plant of a 

 successful manufacturer, a forest should increase 

 in productiveness and value year by year. 



Under various circumstances, then, a forest may 

 yield its best return in protection, in wood, grass, 

 or other forest products, in money, or in interest on 

 the capital it represents. But whichever of these 



