FOREST ECONOMICS. 247 



twenty years more, yet it is worth perhaps one-third of 

 what it will be worth twenty years hence. Thus, if at 

 forty years it will yield ninety cords of paper pulp per 

 acre, worth five dollars per cord, it should at twenty 

 years be worth about $140, after allowing for compound 

 interest at six per cent. 



Unproductive Forest Land. In almost every range 

 of forest there will be some land that is quite unproductive. 

 This will generally consist of ledgy land, or that which is 

 elevated above the tree line, or perhaps may consist of 

 extended swamps. But on this account it should not be 

 thought worthless, but should be allov^ed to produce 

 what growth it can, especially where it is valuable in 

 protecting the sources of streams, and in the ease of ele- 

 vated mountain sides the scrubby growth of no value 

 for timber may be very valuable in preventing land slips 

 or snow slides. Of course, in the case of individuals 

 having small holdings such considerations do not apply, 

 but they are important and should be encouraged in 

 any comprehensive forestry scheme. 



European Systems of Forest Management have been 

 frequently referred to as being applicable to our condi- 

 tions, but, while we can learn much of value from the 

 history and practice of European forest administration, 

 our conditions are so very different from those existing 

 in Europe that much discretion must be exercised in 

 adapting their methods to our conditions. The chief 

 difference between their conditions and ours is in the 

 higher price of their timber and their cheaper hand labor, 

 which makes practicable there very different methods than 

 could be profitably used here. The conditions in the 

 remote parts of Russia are more like those in this country 

 than are, perhaps, to be found elsewhere in Europe, and 

 there is still in those sections a great waste of forest prod- 

 ucts, and large losses occur there annually from forest 



