38 BULLETIN 299, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OP AGKICULTUKE. 
On the average, ash stumpage will be worth only from $10 to $15 
per thousand board feet, and well-stocked seedling stands of ash 
will usually cost $10 or more per acre. On this basis it will require 
at the least a^ Quality II yield to pay 6 per cent interest. These 
figures disregard the possibility of intermediate returns from thin- 
nings, which under especially favorable conditions might amount 
to from 20 to 30 per cent of the value of the final returns. It may 
be said in general, however, that growing ash timber as a profitable 
investment is practically limited to lands which will produce good 
yields of ash and which do not cost over $10 or $15 per acre. 
Ash is one of the most desirable trees for growing in farmers' 
woodlots, wherever the soil is suitable, because of its usefulness for 
many purposes on the farm, and because it brings a high price when 
sold. It is also especially to be recommended for timber growing on 
agricultural land which the owner does not wish to use or develop at 
once for agriculture, but which he, nevertheless, desires to hold 
indefinitely. The cost of growing temporary forest crops which 
will pay fair returns will be very small in comparison with the cost 
of developing land agriculturally. Such crops will also require very 
little supervision. It will often be a wise policy for the farmer to 
cultivate only so much land as he can handle according to the best 
farming methods, allowing the rest to grow to timber. 
In the management of all forest types in which ash occurs naturally, 
it is always to be ranked as one of the most, if not the most, desirable 
species to encourage,, often to the extent of securing pure or nearly 
pure stands of it over limited areas where the soil is suitable. 
OBJECT OF MANAGEMENT. 
The object of management of ash should be to secure on sites well 
adapted to its growth either well-stocked, pure, or nearly pure 
stands; or well-stocked mixed stands of desirable species, ash forming 
as large a proportion as it is practicable to secure, and being made, 
by thinnings if necessary, the favored dominant tree with plenty 
of growing space (PL XIII). 
Pure stands of ash will usually have to be established by planting 
or sowing, as only comparatively small patches can be -secured by 
natural reproduction. They should be limited, as a rule, to the best 
sites and to short rotations, which will insure high yields. On all 
but the best sites ash is silviculturally better adapted for growing in 
mixed stands, either singly or in small groups, because the trees are 
light demanding and develop wide-spreading, surface-feeding root 
systems, and can be advantageously separated by more tolerant 
species with deep-growing roots. 
