In popular estimation a forest consists of a confused col- 

 lection of trees of all sizes. This is not, however, the case 

 in an organized forest capable of furnishing an uninter- 

 rupted supply of material of a definite kind. Such a forest 

 must be built up, so to speak, of an unbroken series of trees 

 or of crops of all ages from the seedling to the mature tree. 

 Thus, were we dealing with isolated trees, and were it 

 desired to fell one 20-year old tree every year, it is ev- 

 ident that it would be necessary to have already growing at 

 least 20 trees, one tree 20 years old, one of 19 years, one of 

 18 years, and so on down to the seedling of one year. 

 Had we not this stock of trees of different ages to deal with 

 the desired felling could not be made. Were, for instance, 

 all the trees of the same age, say 10 years, we should be 

 obliged, in order to obtain one tree a year, to commence by 

 felling a tree of that age and should end by felling a tree 

 30 years old. 



Similar reasoning applies to crops, that is to say to collec- 

 tions of trees occupying definite areas. If it were desired to 

 fell every year one acre of forest containing trees 20 years old, 

 it would be necessary to possess 20 acres of forest, of which 

 one acre should be 20 years old, one 19 years, and so on down 

 to the crop one year old. In each case a producing stock of 

 20 trees or 20 acres is requisite in order that one tree, or one 

 acre of forest, may annually become available for felling 

 when aged 20 years. 



The producing stock in a forest organized in this manner 

 is part of the " capital " value of the forest; because it acts, 

 as will be seen, in the same way as a purely monetary 

 capital (or what money represents) in producing interest in 

 the shape of wood. In fact the forest may fairly be com- 

 pared to a manufactory in which each individual tree is a 

 workman engaged in producing wood. It must not, how- 

 ever, be overlooked, as has often been done to the ruin of 

 the forest, that the workmen in such a manufactory and the 

 produce of their labour are indentical, and that, in removing 

 the produce, the producers may easily be removed too. The 

 producing stock thus fulfils the economists' definition of 

 " capital, " the produce of former labour. The term " capital " 

 as here used does not represent the money value of, or the 

 money invested in, the forest. This includes, as a matter of 

 course, the value of the land. 



B 2 



