PRELiniNARY REMARKS. 



The wood owner and the forester unite in the endeavor of 

 drawing the largest possible returns from the forests, with 

 which they have to deal. The average wood owner, however, 

 wishes to derive the highest possible cash receipts in the near- 

 est possible future, striving to convert every portion of the 

 property, soil and trees, minerals and waters, into money to be 

 engaged in other speculations. 



The forester, on the contrary, allows any and all parts of 

 the investment to remain invested, which are paying sufficient 

 interest on their value, with a view of continued ownership 

 over them for an indefinite time. 



On the other hand, the forester will take all such portions 

 out of the investment as do not return, or cease to return good 

 profits. He brings the capital invested down to the level — ^by 

 diminishing it — or up to the level — by increasing it — at which 

 It will return to Mm the highest possible interest. 



For instance, the forester will sell the bottom lands, which 

 yield higher returns under an agricultural atop than under a 

 tree crop. Such lands, which show a fine cover of grass and a 

 poor crop of trees, the forester will set aside for use as sheep 

 or cattle pasture — pasture of course not after the fashion of 

 the western herder, but in a systematic way, with a knowledge 

 of the possible damage to the surrounding timber lands and a 

 knowledge of the means to avert it. 



The most frequent question, however, to be solved by the 

 forester, is: Will this or that tree, by its annual growth, bear 

 sufficient interest on the price at which it can be disposed of, 

 considering its size and quality? 



In Europe, where the number of timber species is small and 

 where the forest contains sections stocked with trees of sub- 

 stantially the same age, these questions are easily solved. Ow- 

 ing to the equal age and size of trees over whole compart- 

 ments, there is no need of concerning oneself with single trees. 



