322 OUR FORESTS AND WOODLANDS 
land for oak or beech may be ‘ moderate’ or even 
‘good’ land for pine, and would consequently 
in all likelihood give far better ultimate returns 
if thus cropped than by utilising it for the growth 
of hardwoods. And, in either case, an admixture 
of larch, on land suitable for its growth, will both 
improve the woods and add to their monetary re- 
turns. Suitability of soil and situation should 
therefore be the first consideration in determining 
the specific nature of the crop, if the timber it 
will yield is at all marketable locally; because, 
while the growth is most energetic, the quality of 
the wood produced is at the same time better for 
general purposes, and its market value is conse- 
quently greater. 
These tables also show how conifer crops have 
the power of almost trebling the capital in wood 
during the period of greatest activity in upward 
growth between twenty and forty years of age, a 
point which has been previously remarked on. 
But, obviously, in order that the gross capital 
in wood may accumulate rapidly, and that the 
advantages of a regularly-sustained annual yield 
may be gained, it is necessary that the formation 
of timber crops, including plantations on land again 
