224 FOREST PLANTING. 



tal is required, and this capital will be tied up for 

 generations, and pay only at the end of a long period 

 accumulated interest together with the invested money. 

 This kind of business does not agree with the average 

 American. He prefers to have his capital at his dis- 

 posal and when he uses it, he expects to make high 

 profits and quick returns. To the State, however, the 

 material value of the wood products are of secondary 

 significance; the economic influence of those wooded 

 mountains upon the general weal of the country is the 

 principal reason for endeavoring to obtain control over 

 a region which will secure the ascribed economic effects 

 only when continually kept under wood. 



And yet there are some peculiar features about the 

 possession of well-managed forests which should make 

 them extremely desirable for the many rich people we 

 have in this country, and who can afford to tie up a 

 part of their wealth for a longer period before receiving 

 returns. These features are : 



1. The investment is as safe as in the most solid sav- 

 ings bank, and at a rate of interest which at least equals 

 that paid by the banks. 



To prove this, is not difficult, but it would lead us 

 here too far to do it. Suffice it to observe that the 

 closest calculations made in European countries in re- 

 gard to wood accretion in the forests confirm the cor- 

 rectness of this statement, which will be still more 

 applicable to our country as the growth of trees here by 

 far surpasses that in Europe, and the rate of interest is 

 the same in both countries. 



As for the much-feared forest fires, it is to be hoped 

 that we also will be able to discover and apply some such 

 means, both of preventing and extinguishing forest fires 

 as have been devised in Europe so that there at present 



