4 INTRODUCTORY [ch. i 



or less — the age at which the desired size of tree may, under 

 local conditions of soil and climate, be realised. 



A longer rotation generally means a more valuable yield, but, 

 on the other hand, it also means a larger wood-capital, and 

 therefore a proportionately smaller rate of interest on the capital 

 involved. 



For forests of protection therefore, as we have already seen, 

 as distinguished from forests of supply, a physical rotation 

 would be adopted, while for ordinary commercial forests, the 

 rotation corresponding to the maximum soil-rental expresses 

 the true economic value of the management, but this is an 

 exceedingly diificult matter to determine exactly. In the 

 case of State forests, where the object of management is the 

 production of timber of the largest possible dimensions, the 

 rotation may be longer than the true financial rotation, while in 

 the case of private forests worked for the production of small 

 wood or fuel, the rotation adopted may be in the neighbourhood 

 of the short rotation corresponding to the greatest production 

 of volume, at the age when the current and mean annual rates 

 of increment coincide. In any case cultural considerations ha^'e 

 to be taken into account as well as economic ones. 



