114 AGRICULTL'EE ox THE KHISE. 



tion. Coals are now in general use all along the Rhine 

 in towns. In villages, where the supply of fire-wood is 

 not subject to such rapid fluctuations, wood is still used for 

 firing. But manufactures of all kinds requiring either 

 furnaces or steam-engines have long been established only 

 in places well supplied with coals, such as on the banks of 

 the Ruter, or of the Upper Moselle, and the neighbour- 

 hood of Aix-la-Chapelle. 



Were we, however, to calculate the return of any capi- 

 tal sum laid out in the purchase or in the planting of 

 forests, from the experience of the last 100 years, 1000 

 cubic feet of timber, instead of being worth 4000 pence, 

 would a century hence be worth 60,000 pence ; and 

 the present value estimated at compound interest, payable 

 at periods of 30, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 years, would 

 i>e 32/. 175. Qd. instead of 21. \s. 6d. In a country 

 where land abounds, — that is to say, where the popula- 

 tion has not accumulated so much as to make the provi- 

 sion of food matter of difficulty, there is no necessity for 

 reckoning with compound interest, and the land devoted 

 to forests being required for no other species of cultiva- 

 tion, it forms a capital that, at simple interest, yields its 

 fair return. The present investment, in purchase-money 

 and cost of planting necessary to secure a return of 4500 

 feet of timber, which we have seen is a fair yield for an 

 acre of forest-land, when well managed, after 150 years, 

 may, without anticipating a rise of prices, be estimated at 

 4/. to 8/. lOs. In order therefore to bring such a portion 

 of the forest-land as is suited for arable uses or for mea- 

 dowing to the value that we have quoted for such land 

 on the Lower Rhine, a great increase of population and 

 •corresponding growth of prosperity will be required. 



