20 THE I'RIKCIPLES OF HANDLING WOODLANDS 



amount of useful products, the maintenance of certain 

 industries which could not otherwise contmue to exist in 

 a giv'en region, are all of great advantage to the people, 

 and contribute largely to the actual creation of wealth 

 and prosperity. The)' justify public forestry even if 

 they involve a continued outlay of mone\ . 



Returns from Public Forests. — As a matter of fact, 

 public forests pa\' financially in the l<^ng run, m addition 

 to furnishing man\' indirect advantages. The forests of 

 Prussia yield a net revenue of over ^lb,OOU,000 a year, 

 or about ^2.50 per acre. The forests of Saxony yield 

 more than $5 per acre per annum above all expenses of 

 protection, administration, and operation. 



Public forests in this countr\- will also pay financially 

 in the long run. In some cases the forests have been so 

 badly damaged by destructive lumbering that there v.ill 

 be no revenue from them for a long time. Thus Penn- 

 sylvania purchases cut-over forests. No timber can be 

 cut on many of them for a long time. But ultimately 

 there will be a large financial return to the State. A 

 typical public forest in Europe yields about 2'j per 

 cent, per annum compound interest on the value of the 

 investment. 



Problem of Private Owners. — The question asked by 

 many private owners of forests is whether it will pay 

 them from a business standpoint to practise forestrx . 

 Thus, for example, a lumber company owning 100,00(1 

 acres, has the problem of whether it shall cut everything 

 from the tract that can be sold, or cut only the mature 



