8 
however, that nowhere in the history of the world has any such 
quantity of wood as 100,000 board feet been produced per acre in 
10 years. There is a limit to the productiveness of even the best land 
under the best conditions of management. This limit, as far as in- 
tensive forest culture has yet demonstrated, is far below 100,000 
board feet in a decade. Barring redwood, bigtree, Pacific coast 
Douglas fir, and virgin stands of eucalyptus in Australia, it is but 
rarely that forests anywhere produce this quantity of material per 
acre in one crop, regardless of the element, of time. 
The investigations made by the Forest Service indicate, therefore, 
that returns from blue-gum plantations are satisfactory if the total 
investment is $60 an acre or less; that in proportion as the initial 
investment and discounted carrying charge exceed this amount, the 
prospects of a good profit are reduced, and that an investment ap- 
proaching $160 per acre can not be expected to pay back more than 
the bare principal. Satisfactory results can ordinarily be secured by 
personally starting and caring for plantations rather than by pur- 
chasing planted land at any figure which is out of proportion to the 
actual cost of establishing the crop. 
DDITIONAL COPIES ofthis publication 
may be procured from the SUPERINTEND- 
ENT OF DOCUMENTS, Government Printing 
Office, Washington, D. C., at 5 cents per copy 
