FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 425 



large amount of " dead work," not immediately, but ultimately profitable, must be 

 done. 



So much of the financial and the common sense business aspects of forestry 

 it has seemed needful to explain, in order to counteract the wild promises of 

 enthusiasts regarding the immediately and presently profitable application of 

 forestry. The profits of forestry lie in the future as a result of present expendi- 

 tures ; the problem is to keep the expenditures within the proportion of the returns 

 to be expected. 



Unquestionably a large share of the expenditures for improvement, if not all, 

 may be secured from the woods themselves, and eventually a surplus, a revenue, may 

 be expected during the rebuilding of the dilapidated wild woods, when the business 

 of cutting and marketing the old stock is fairly established. 



There are a number of practical problems to be solved in carrying out this pro- 

 gram, which can be grouped into three classes, partly, though not altogether inde- 

 pendent. The one class refers to silvicultural methods to be pursued in reproducing 

 the new crop, which are partly, at least with us, to be developed by experiment ; the 

 other class of problems refers to the business management. 



In a private forest management, in which only the present pocket interest is to 

 be subserved, and no allowance is made for the promises of a distant future, the 

 individual being too short lived, mere exploitation, less crude, perhaps, than prac- 

 tised hitherto, seems alone practical, as asserted by some writers on the subject, 

 with whom, however, we do not entirely agree. 



The State, on the other hand, can afford to discount the future, can pay for an 

 improvement which promises sure return of its cost with interest, even though in a 

 distant future. 



Nevertheless, even in the case of the State, it is proper policy to secure the best 

 returns with the smallest outlay, and in such a manner that, as far as possible, pres- 

 ent outlays find their compensation in present returns, i. e.,to manage economically. 

 It would be possible to solve without difficulty and with absolute and immediate 

 assurance of success the silvicultural problem, namely, the change from a poorly 

 growing old woods into a thrifty young woods, if the question of expense were 

 entirely neglected. If, however, the problem is to be solved with due consideration 

 of business principles, such as should influence even the State, it becomes more dif- 

 ficult. It requires, in the first place, the possibility of marketing the crop. 



This difficulty is almost entirely a transportation problem. As far as the soft 

 woods are concerned, transportation by water is possible and cheap, and the devel- 

 opment of the pulp industry assures a tolerably paying market now and a better one 



