96 ENGLISH WOODLANDS 



of timber may sometimes have a very small 

 share in an extraordinary rise in the price of 

 converted timber. 



In timber-planting there is, on the debit side 

 of the account, a large initial cost for planting, 

 an annual loss of the land, and an annual ex- 

 penditure for maintenance, rates and taxes, while 

 the receipts are many years later in date than 

 the main part of the items on the debit side. 

 The accounts are made either by reducing all 

 expenses and receipts to their present value at 

 a selected rate of interest as at the date of the 

 planting, or all expenses and receipts are reckoned 

 at compound interest until the date when the 

 wood is finally felled. The profit or loss may 

 be shown either by the rate of interest selected 

 or by the difference between the incomings and 

 outgoings reduced to the same moment. 



There are various mathematical formulae for 

 finding the net financial result of timber- 

 planting. These are valuable in an inquiry 

 into the past financial history of a wood if all 

 expenses and receipts from planting to the final 

 fall have been carefully recorded. When they 

 are used for calculating the probable future 

 result of planting a wood they are of only slight 

 value. All future receipts, expenses, and rates 



