FORESTRY AND PATIENCE 



BY QUINCY R. CRAFT, LI. S. FOREST SERVICE. DENVER. COLORADO 







XE soweth and another reapeth" is perhaps never 



not only in awaiting results of physical effort, but 

 also in inducing the public to adopt methods which look to 

 the future, patience as well as science is requisite. How 

 often timber holders who undertook to handle their lands 

 under forest working plans prepared in co-operation with 

 the Forest Service abandoned the purpose until it seemed 

 that for the present the practice of forestry on a large 

 scale must be limited to Government and State work ! 

 The first working plan for Government forest lands 



after two decades, we find an enduring demonstration of 

 the benefits of conservation worked out in detail in the 

 conditions of employment and daily life of those affected? 

 The example to which reference is made is the lum- 

 bering operations of the Homestake Mining Company, 

 centered at Nemo, South Dakota. A well-equipped log- 

 ging road connects the sawmill with Company, State and 

 Government-owned timber tracts, on the one hand, and 

 the market, on the other, and all operations contemplate 

 thirty years, if not an indefinite run. Assurance of con- 

 tinued employment promotes efficiency and thrift, and 



Fl.SK E.\ AMPLE Uf CO.NSERVATION 



Area c'l! over l>y Homestake Company undtT combined shelterwood and selection system of marking- The timber cut has been completely utilized 



and a stand of thrifty growing yellow pine is left. 



and one of the very first for any large timber tract was 

 prepared in the vicinity of Nemo, in the northeastern 

 Black Hills of South Dakota in 1898, by Henry S. Graves. 

 A picture of a part of this area in which young growth 

 had been preserved and fire protection, facilitated by a 

 good clean-up was used on the first Forest Service calen- 

 dar. An enlargement hangs in many supervisors' offices, 

 and it has been used more generally for lantern slides and 

 newspaper illustrations of good forestry in America than 

 almost any other. 



Is it significant that in this very part of the Black Hills 



the type of men and the manner in which the work is 

 conducted indicate that hardship and reckless daring are 

 not necessarily connected with lumbering. 



Nemo and the small valley in which it lies are very 

 attractive for a permanent lumber camp ; buildings are 

 kept in good repair, and large pines are carefully pro- 

 tected to provide a natural park in the center of the 

 town. The company store is well kept and' carries goods 

 of quality and at prices that prove advantageous to For- 

 est officers whose location enable them to buy there. The 

 ])rovcrbial isolation of the lumber camp is relieved by 



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