2 INTRODUCTORY [ch. 



other forest produce, which therefore form a commercial enter- 

 prise and occupy rent-yielding ground. In this case the owner 

 would wish to adopt a scheme of management such as would 

 primarily render his woodlands a financial success, yielding the 

 maximum soil rental and giving him the highest net return on 

 his invested capital. 



In many cases it is of course possible to adopt a mixed object 

 • — at any rate to some extent — and so to modify the strict 

 financial course in any given direction. Even game preserving 

 is not altogether incompatible with economic forestry, though 

 the fact that rabbits generally accompany pheasants makes it 

 difficult. So, too, in the case of State forests, it may be the duty 

 of the State to produce timber of the largest possible dimensions 

 for the benefit of the community at large, since private owners 

 cannot afford to work with such a long rotation, involving an 

 immense invested capital and a proportionately diminished rate 

 of interest. In this case the State would have to modify the 

 strictly financial rotation, and deliberately to extend it in order 

 to obtain the timber of large dimensions required by the general 

 public. 



3. Choice of species. 



The object of management having been carefully considered, 

 and definitely stated in precise terms, it is possible then to con- 

 sider how this object may be best attained with reference to 

 choice of species, choice of method of treatment, and choice of 

 size of maturity. With regard to choice of species, if we are 

 deahng with a large State forest of natural origin covering an 

 extensive area, there may be no question as to species, nor 

 possibility of making any direct alteration in this respect; but 

 if on the other hand we are dealing with small woodland areas 

 such as exist all over Great Britain, it may be quite possible to 

 make a change from coniferous to broad-leaved species, or vice 

 versa, or to substitute one species for another, if by doing so, 

 the objects of management, financial or economic, can be better 

 realised. It is of course always safer to retain a species which 

 is found growing naturally and healthily in its own habitat than 

 to introduce a new^ — or still more an exotic — species, of which 



