HOW TO IMPROVE THE WOODLOT. 27 



or profit on the capital of the woodlot. When more than the increase 

 is taken the capital is impaired; there is not so much wood on hand 

 as there was at the beginning of the year. Increased capital will mean 

 increase in the amount of interest, and vice versa: that is, the more 

 fully stocked the tract, the more wood will be made each year. Large 

 trees which have not reached their maturity generally make in the 

 aggregate much more wood than smaller ones, though they may not 

 grow so fast at a given point; and if they are good saw logs they are 

 making a higher class of timber. It is therefore the part of the thrifty 

 farmer to accumulate rather than to cut wood, until he has brought 

 his woodlot to its best condition. In doing this he will secure a sup- 

 ply of wood for his everyday needs from, that which ought to be 

 removed for the improvement of the tract. Then, when his woodlot 

 bank has in it all that it will hold and pay interest on. when the 

 ground is all occupied, not with weeds of trees, but with straight, fine, 

 healthy stock of the kinds most in demand, he may with a clear con- 

 science begin to take his well-earned profit with the full annual prod- 

 uct of his capital. He will then easily be able to cut from one-half of 

 a cord to a cord of wood an acre, where now it is doubtful if he could 

 cut half as much without further impoverishing his depleted principal, 

 his sole resource for future supply. 



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