198 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



Carried on by government activity for reasons 

 of general cultural advantages, the net yield or 

 money profits may be considered secondary, or 

 perhaps may be dispensed with. It may even ap- 

 pear rational to carry on forest management at a 

 loss, for a time at least, just as is done in many 

 other forms of public works, because of the indirect 

 benefits derived from it, and for internal improve- 

 ment. Nevertheless, even in that case it would be 

 desirable to organize and to carry on the business 

 of forest cropping systematically, with a view of 

 bringing into relation results and efforts, i.e., of 

 counting the cost. 



It is possible, also, to practise the art of silvicul- 

 ture incidentally, as the farmer does, or can do, on 

 his wood lot, without special business organization 

 and elaborate planning, the owner harvesting and 

 reproducing and tending his crop whenever need- 

 ful ; but the case is different if forest growing is to 

 be carried on as a business by itself with a view 

 to continued and regular procedure, to continued 

 and regular revenue ; in that case more elaborate 

 planning becomes necessary. 



The one peculiarity which distinguishes the for- 

 estry business from every other business is the 

 time element. The forester cannot harvest annu- 

 ally what has actually grown (the current incre- 

 ment) ; the forest crop, as we have seen, must 

 accumulate the accretions of many years before it 

 becomes mature, i.e. of sufficient size to be useful; 



