HIGH WOODS, COPSES, ETC. 259 



often decidedly speculative in the case of larch, 

 not being attributed to their true causes to 

 want of knowledge of the very simple scien- 

 tific and economic principles upon which the 

 art of Forestry is based. 



The main object of commercial Forestry is to 

 obtain the largest and most profitable returns 

 from the land in the shape of a regular yield 

 sustained annually. Hence, as regards the 

 amount of capital to be invested in the grow- 

 ing stock of woodland crops, the principle is 

 that (subject of course to yielding produce of 

 the dimensions required for the available market) 

 it shall be neither more nor less than is requisite 

 to produce the best regular income from the 

 land under wood. With regard to coppices, the 

 capital which can most suitably be arranged for 

 is that which permits of the fall being made 

 in the shortest possible rotation without ex- 

 posing the soil to the danger of deterioration 

 from sun and wind through being repeatedly 

 laid bare by too frequent harvesting of the crop. 

 In highwoods, however, the capital locked up 

 in the growing stock, which is much larger than 

 that required for copse or for coppice, will be 



