FORESTRY COMMISSION. 97 



SUGGESTIONS FOE SECURING QUICK EETUENS FROM FOREST 



PLANTATIONS. 



BY PEOF. CHARLES A. DAVIS, ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN. 



A constantly recurring question to those who are engaged in trying 

 to arouse an interest in forestry, and in the establishment of forest 

 plantations, is : "How soon may returns be expected from the invest- 

 ment which you are asking us to make?" This question must be met, 

 if met honestly, and without mental reservations, by an answer which 

 will, in many cases, offer discouragements to the land owner, or to the 

 prospective tree planter because of the length of time which it takes, 

 and must always take, trees to grow to reach marketable size. 



However, assuming that a land owner has decided upon making a 

 forest plantation, there are certain considerations which he may take 

 into account in making his choice of methods of management, and of 

 species to be grown, which will materially hasten the time in which the 

 forest crop may be put upon the market. 



At the outset, it is evident that there are at least two classes of own- 

 ers whose needs and resources must be taken into account, namely: 

 (1) The holders of small tracts of land which can be watched constantly, 

 frequently visited and cared for at no extra expense or a very small 

 outlay, and (2) the owners of large areas, which are remote from their 

 places of residence, and for the care of which, men must be hired 

 especially. The first group would include the farmers, and it is to them 

 that the following suggestions are chiefly addressed, although the prin- 

 ciples involved are, in general, equally applicable to all classes of forest 

 planting. 



Before all other considerations preliminary to establishing a "forest 

 plantation, must come the matter of market, not only at the present 

 time, but for the time when the crop will be mature enough to be sold. 

 This, it is needless to say, is, perhaps, the most difficult of all the prob- 

 lems involved, and its discussion complicated to such an extent, that it 

 has no place in the present paper, except in so far as it may be said 

 that the kind or form of forest crop which has the most general market, 

 is the safest to plan for, while special forms of crop, depending upon 

 either temporary fashion or particular demands, are not likely to give 

 as large returns and may find no market whatever, when ready for 

 harvest, because of change of fashion, or the cessation of the demand. 

 At the outset the location of the plantation, its remoteness from or 

 nearness of probable markets, its accessibility to general lines of traffic, 

 the kind of markets, the type of soil, value of the land for other pur- 

 poses, climatic conditions, the size of the area to be planted, the amount 

 of capital to be invested, the kind and amount of care to be given, and 

 the cost of this, and other equally important matters, all need con- 

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