HIGH WOODS, COPSES, ETC 269 



It is essentially of the nature of a permanent, 

 a gradual, and a very rapidly accumulating 

 investment. It should only be embarked upon 

 after full consideration of the matter, and 

 should only be conducted either with personal 

 knowledge or else under competent advice. 

 No landowner would ever dream of investing 

 ,35,000 to ,42,500 on mortgages or ordi- 

 nary investments without his lawyer's advice or 

 some other specialist's opinion ; yet many of 

 the large plantations of Britain have been 

 formed on rather haphazard methods, and are 

 not being managed as well as they might be. 



If the woods and coppices are fully stocked, 

 as should be aimed at under good manage- 

 ment, then the necessary capital in the grow- 

 ing crops is equal to the yield of the mature 

 fall of each year multiplied by half the num- 

 ber of years in the period of rotation. If the 

 bulk of the land is stocked with crops younger 

 than half the period of rotation, then the 

 capital in woods or coppices is insufficient to 

 yield the best return from the land in the 

 shape of a regularly -sustained annual yield; 

 while, if the majority of the crops is older than 



