MASSACHUSETTS TREE PLANTER 19 



stock is bought, especially where white pine is to be used. 

 The outlay will approximate the lower figure, when the 

 seedlings are gathered in the woods or raised in a nursery 

 by the planter himself. 



(b) The Cost of setting out the Plants 

 The price of labor and the nature of the land to be planted, 

 will largely determine the expense under this head. On very 

 rocky land, or fields thickly covered with vines and brush, 

 the cost of setting out the plants might easily run up to 

 $10.00 an acre. But on the average this work can be done 

 for from $3.00 to $4.00 per acre, allowing 1210 plants to 

 the acre. 



The total cost then of establishing a forest plantation will, 

 under average circumstances, vary from $5.50 to $10.00 per 

 acre. Where the planter does a large part of the work him- 

 self, instead of buying material and hiring labor, the actual 

 outlay in money may be reduced below the minimum amount 

 given . 



THE RETURNS TO BE EXPECTED FROM PLANTATIONS 

 Forest planting, like most other forest operations, requires 

 the investment of money to yield returns only at the end 

 of several decades. Before thus tying up their money, it is 

 natural that landowners should desire to learn the returns 

 which they may reasonably expect from plantations of forest 

 trees. In attempting to estimate the returns, the total amount 

 of the investment must first be ascertained. This is made 

 up of several items. 



1 . The cost of the planting. 



2. The value of the land. 



3. The annual taxes. 



4. The cost of fire protection. 



All four should be figured with compound interest until 

 the crop is harvested. 



To show what these items amount to at the end of a 

 definite period (40 years), the following table has been com- 

 puted, for land of three different values, and for three dif- 



