404 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



The crop which the forester grows is harvested many years after it started to 

 grow. He has, therefore, to deal with a distant future, when prices for his material 

 and economic conditions in its market and use may have changed. 



He, therefore, who is called upon to advise on the management of a forest 

 property must always weigh present and future interests, and whoever engages 

 in this business must realize the fact that it pays, if it pays at all, only in the 

 long run ; that the advantage in the future is to be obtained only by a sacrifice in 

 the present. The amount of sacrifice can be gauged, to be sure, within certain 

 limits ; " the dead work " to be done for the improvement of the property may be 

 curtailed to the minimum, but in proportion the desirable condition of the property 

 and the future advantage will be delayed. 



The future, then, being such a prominent factor in the business, it would appear 

 a natural inference that it is mainly a business for the State or other long-lived insti- 

 tution or continued interest. The State can wait for the time when the expendi- 

 tures or sacrifices of the present bring their returns and can expend in the present 

 on improvements which promise returns even in a distant future. The State has 

 also the additional interest which comes from the protective quality of the forest 

 when situated on mountain slopes, sand dunes, etc., which may make expenditure 

 without money returns defensible. 



Next to the State, the smaller communities, having similar interests, and being 

 continuous persons, may well own such forest properties and may manage them with 

 the future in view. 



Similarly, corporations of a lasting nature and large capitalists may carry on 

 forestry as a business, with a view to continuous profitable employment of their 

 capital. 



The large capitalist, who seeks safety and continuity of investment rather than 

 high interest rates, if applying forestry principles to a large property may find satis- 

 faction. For the size of the forest property has an unusual influence upon the pos- 

 sibility of profitable forest management, when the expenditures on dead work in one 

 portion may be balanced by the income from the other portions. Indeed, that the 

 German forest administrations are profitable is very largely owing to this fact that 

 they are carried on upon a very large scale (500,000 to 6,000,000 acres), when this 

 balancing of unprofitable and profitable working secures a more or less satisfactory 

 result. Only under particularly favorable conditions and upon favorably located smaller 

 properties can forestry as a business be carried on independently and with success. 



For small capitalists and on small areas, as a rule, forestry as an independent 

 business is impracticable, although it can be carried on as a side business. 



