CURRENT EXPENSES 53 



For the most part improvements are developed gradually and 

 the expense for improvement is fitted to the incoine, and may there- 

 fore remain fairly constant for a long term of years. In the state 

 forests of Europe the construction and maintenance of roads is 

 usually the only item quoted in the reports. In the state forests 

 of Wiirttemberg road work in the five years ending 1908, averaged 

 about forty cents per acre of forest and of this twenty-four cents 

 was for maintenance. Ever since 1875 the roads have received over 

 twenty-five cents per acre and year, and while new construction will 

 become less in time the item of roads will always amount to over 

 thirty cents per acre and year. 



In the United States there is as yet little experience in this mat- 

 ter outside the United States Forest Service and as stated, the Ser- 

 vice has had too little support to do more than make a beginning. 



On a good forest property with satisfactory market, etc., a 

 suitable road system is a necessity and it is reasonable to suppose 

 that this will cost here what it does abroad. 



Combining the factors of current expenses for our conditions 

 the following estimate will suit a large part of our forests : 



Taxes IS cents per acre 



Protection 10 cents per acre 



Administration 5 cents per acre 



Improvements 10 cents per acre 



Total 40 cents per acre 



This should be regarded rather as minimum than average for good, 

 intensive work. 



That these expenses must be suited to the income or the value 

 of the crop which any tract can produce is evident. From the for- 

 mula it is apparent that: Yr -f- Ta (Lop""-^) must be greater than 

 c (i.op^) -1-E (i.op--— i). 



If we take the value of the thinnings, prolonged, to be equal 

 to one half Yr or the final cut, and use ten dollars for planting and 

 forty cents for current expenses, eighty years as rotation and figure 

 with three per cent, then the final cut must be worth more than one 

 hundred and seventy-five dollars to produce any rent on the land. 

 In jack pine, tamarack, or high mountain timber where the final cut 

 can not be expected to be worth over fifty dollars and in the moun- 

 tain forest requires perhaps one hundred and fifty years to grow, 



