PREFACE. 



FORESTRY on a large scale will not be possible in the United 

 States, on private holdings, unless it proves to be a remun- 

 erative investment of capital. 



Unfortunately, owing to the slowness of treegrowth, there 

 is no chance of large profits in forestry. Not one of the forest own- 

 ers abroad has engaged in forestry with a view of getting rich 

 through it. Forestry is not a maker of wealth ; it is only a pre- 

 server of wealth. 



As a preserver of wealth, forestry is unrivalled. No business 

 yields interest on the capital engaged in it as steadily as forestry. 

 As sure as the sun shines, the wind' blows and the rain falls, the 

 volume of a tree is compelled to increase, the increment represent- 

 ing the interest on tree-capital. Sunshine, air and precipitations 

 are the factors of treegrowth. 



Abroad, all aristocratic families owning forest-estates have suc- 

 ceeded in the maintainance of their standing for centuries, whilst 

 the rich merchants and bankers of olden times have not left a trace 

 of their names and their wealth, in spite of the fact, that many of 

 them, the merchants of Leipzig, Hamburg, Midland, Nuernberg, 

 were richer than their sovereigns themselves. 



In America, it is the well-to-do class, and pre-eminently the well- 

 to-do lumberman, who should be interested in forestry, wherever it 

 offers him a safe and remunerative chance of investment. 



The "Problems of Forestry" were compiled with a view of 

 showing the American wood owners the financial character of pro- 

 fessional forestry. The object in forestry, as in any other business, 

 is the production of high and safe interest on capital. Some little 

 knowledge of elementary mathematics and of banking generally 

 is required for the solution of any financial problem. The banker, 

 the insurance company, the stock broker, constantly meet with 

 tasks similar to those outlined in the " Problems of Forestry." 



The splendid interest tables issued by the Mutual Life Insur- 

 ance Company were used for the solution of the problems in order 

 to avoid the times-taking application of logarithms. 



C. A. SCHENCK, 

 Forester to the Biltmore Estate. 

 Biltmore, N. C, March, 1900. 



