1910.] Coombe Plantation, Keswick. 



35; 



the present value of the purchase money, and the profit corre- 

 spondingly greater, viz., ,£24,476 12s. in all. The annual rent 

 obtained from the soil would then become 145. iod. per acre. 



On the other hand, the maximum returns which would 

 have been obtained under sheep-grazing amount to 

 £4,021 135., which is equivalent to an annual rental 

 of 2s. $d. per acre. There has therefore been obtained from 

 this land 12s. $d. per acre per year more than would have 

 been obtained under sheep, or the rental from forestry is six 

 times as great as from grazing. 



If the calculations be carried out with 5 per cent, as the 

 rate of interest instead of 3 per cent., it will be found that 

 the profit still amounts to over £5,000. It may now be asked 

 whether a future crop of similar composition would be likely 

 to pay so well as the past. Putting aside any question as 

 to whether the soil will carry a second crop of larch as suc- 

 cessfully, there are certain economic changes which will have 

 to be faced. In the first place, the sale of bark is no longer 

 profitable; that is to say, if the exact growth conditions of 

 the past could be reproduced, the returns would suffer at the 

 end of the rotation by ,£2,020 (calculated to the end of the rota- 

 tion). Further, the price of planting would now be at least ^5 

 per acre instead of £2, as in 1848. The extra £3 spent in this 

 way would decrease the final profits by about £3,600. A 

 small deduction would also have to be made on account of the 

 relatively high prices (^d.-jd.) paid from 1873 to about 1887 

 for small spruce and Scotch pine. Similar timber would now 

 bring not more than 3d. per cubic foot. The sum would only 

 be small, however, since the quantity sold at this price did 

 not amount to more than 10,000 cubic feet. Against these 

 sources of loss may be placed the possibility of regenerating 

 part of the area naturally at a lower cost than £5 per acre, 

 and the probability of a rise in the price of timber. 



A liberal estimate of the reduction then would be £6,000, 

 which still leaves a profit of £"17,500 if the land had to be 

 purchased, or of £18,500 if it had already been acquired. The 

 latter sum represents a soil rental of lis. id. per acre, which 

 is still five times the sum to be expected from sheep-grazing. 



Reference to Table V. will show that for the first three 

 periods of five years the plantation showed a net loss of 16s. $d. 

 (including planting), is. 3d., and 3d. per acre respectively. 



