PICTURES REFORESTATION ABROAD AND AT BILTMORE 



Such reforestation is costly. Still, is it not more costly 

 to allow land to lie barren, which was acquired at — say — $15 

 per acre, and which requires annually an expense of 10 cts. to 

 defray the taxes ? Is it not wisdom to invest another $10 or 

 $20 for reforestation, if such additional investment allows of a 

 prospect to make three or four per cent, interest on the entire 

 capital ? And these returns are safe. As soon as a planta- 

 tion is established, nothing can prevent it from growing. 

 The annual growth represents annual returns stored away by 

 the forest. The components of growth are air, rain and sun- 

 shine, and the forest grows and accumulates compound 

 interest on its capital value as sure as the wind blows, the 

 rain falls and the sun shines. 



The history of many a wood owning family abroad proves 

 unmistakably, that no investment yields returns so incessantly 

 as forestry, and there is a good old German proverb : " The 

 forest is the father's saving-box!" Empires are wrecked, 

 and the imperial bonds lose their value ; railroads, banks, 

 factories go to the wall, and the shareholder loses his money ; 

 but the well managed forest grows, and cannot help growing 

 in size and value. 



I must put stress on the words, "the 

 well-managed forest." For the primeval 

 forest is unproductive, unless stumpage prices advance 

 sharply, the annual formation of timber being exactly offset 

 by the annual decay of timber. The forester does not in- 

 tend to preserve the virgin woods. He removes as quickly 

 as possible all such trees, which have reached their prime, 

 which are mature, which have ceased to yield, by their 

 annual growth, sufficient interest on their own value. Thus 

 the timber originally contained in a forest is cut down 

 to that figure, at which the highest returns on the remaining 

 investment are obtained. 



That remaining investment consists of young and 

 healthy seedlings, saplings, poles and trees, and I am some- 

 what doubtful, whether even from the aesthetic standpoint 

 such strong and vigorous second growth is not superior in 

 beauty, as well as in returns, to the original growth from 

 which it has emanated. 



