128 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



stock of wood will continue to increase in remu- 

 nerativeness for a longer term of years on good 

 soil and in a favourable situation than on in- 

 ferior soil and in an unfavourable situation. Or 

 to put it in another way, the better the soil and 

 the more favourable the situation, the longer will 

 it pay, as an investment, to allow the timber to go 

 on growing. Hence the business of Forestry is 

 to ascertain and determine the time at which the 

 maximum of profit is obtainable on the capital re- 

 presented by soil and timber; because the moment 

 the annual increase in growth begins to show any 

 fall in monetary value, as expressed per cent, on 

 the capital, that is then the proper time to harvest 

 the mature crop and raise up a new generation of 

 trees to be likewise dealt with economically as an 

 investment intended to produce the best income 

 obtainable from the land. 



In the case of copses and coppice woods, how- 

 ever, the more favourable the soil and the situa- 

 tion generally, the shorter may be the rotation 

 without risking deterioration of the soil as a 

 producer of wood and bark. The conservation 

 of the productiveness of the soil must always 

 form one of the very first considerations in fixing 



