268 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 



of ,35,000, and would (along with the capital 

 value of the land) yield an annual return 

 of ,1750, or 2, 33. 9d. per acre; while 

 with the one hundred years' rotation the 

 entire woods would be worth ,42,500, and 

 would bring in a continuous income of 

 ,2266, or 1, 1 6s. 8d. per acre, as the 

 interest on the capital in timber and the 

 rental from the land. ' But,' I think I hear 

 some landowner suggest, * it seems absurd to 

 have so large a capital in timber on so small 

 an area. One could do much better with it if 

 he cleared the timber altogether, invested the 

 proceeds in other commercial projects, and got 

 whatever else he could from the land/ Not 

 so, however. If all the capital were in the 

 form of marketable timber, the order could, 

 taking advantage of what might seem a 

 favourable turn of the market, be given to 

 denude the broad acres and convert the 

 timber into money ; but, as most of the crops 

 must be immature, realisation could only take 

 place at a heavy loss. Timber-growing is not 

 like stock-jobbing or investments in shares, which 

 can be changed from time to time as desired. 



