THE MANAGEMENT OF PLANTATIONS. 



55 



doubt if such statements will bear strict investigation. For in 

 most cases we find that a number of invariable and inevitable 

 items of expenditure have been omitted, and merely the cost of 

 planting and other initial charges deducted from the gross 

 returns. That woods do pay when properly managed has been 

 conclusively proved in many countries, and I may cite a few 

 returns gathered from official sources in various parts of the 

 German Empire in support of this statement. For instance, the 

 average net return per acre from the State forests in the 

 following States was as follows : — 



Grand Duchy of Anbalt 

 Sachsen-Altenburg . 

 Schwarzburg-Kudolstadt 

 Saxony 



1890 



s. 



1891 



s. 



1892 

 t s. 



11 



8 





20 



19 



17 



10 



10 







16 



16 



These returns are obtained from millions of acres of forest-land, 

 which are supervised by a well-organised staff of trained officials, 

 and we may assume that over-felling or a decrease of the normal 

 stock does not occur. They show clearly enough, therefore, that 

 land of inferior quality can yield a better return to the proprietor 

 when under timber than when let to a grazing or a sporting 

 tenant at a low rental, although, as has been already pointed out, 

 the State may be the only party able to look at this fact from 

 an abstract point of view. 



In conclusion I should like to emphasise the fact that the 

 success of a plantation, whether grown with a view to profit or 

 ornament, depends, not upon the care and attention of one, but 

 of several generations of proprietors or foresters. The changes 

 which so frequently occur in the working staff of an estate render 

 the systematic treatment of plantations a weak feature in estate 

 management, while present needs are usually considered of more 

 importance than future prospects. Under these circumstances, 

 therefore, we cannot reasonably expect to see any sudden change 

 or rapid advance made in the existing customs of planting, 

 thinning, and felling which would bring them into closer 

 harmony with economic and scientific principles. The skill of 

 the forester lies less in what he actually does than in his capa- 

 bility of taking advantage of Nature in order to get his work done 

 for him. The acquisition and the exercise of this skill neces- 

 sitate close and constant observation, so that whatever opera- 



