Why patents are like trees

I read about Michael Bloomberg getting the trees in New York valued. A tree in New York can be pretty valuable, it seems. A tree in the middle of the forest is worth significantly less. You have to have a lot of trees to get any value out of them. Forestry pays well, in the long run of course.
It is the same with patents. A crucial patent can be worth a lot. But it takes a lot of work to realize that value. If you have a forest of patents, you can use them as part of a portfolio and license them to others, and you do not have to water and prune each one. In the long run, they pay off. And patents mature faster than trees.
Location matters with patents, as well as any other real estate.