AMERICAN FORESTRY 



By Jerome H. Sheip 

 Pliiladcl(^hi(i. Pa.. Box Manufacturer 



X 



T is j)articularly gratifying to note 

 the growth in technical efficiency 

 '])}' which we are rapidly realizing 

 the best ideals in the management of 

 our public forests. We recognize that 

 a great held of usefulness awaits our 

 eiTorts in bringing about a more eco- 

 nomic management of private forests. 

 The forest reserves which were cre- 

 ated in 1S91 and later more appropri- 

 ately named "National Forests," have 

 been increased in area, and now in- 

 clude about 190,000,000 acres. Many 

 State Forest Reservations have been 

 created and established, so that, at the 

 present time, about one-fifth of the 

 forest area in America is owned by 

 the public. To this extent, a great 

 system of management has been es- 

 tablished, looking toward the protec- 

 tion, improvement and wise use of our 

 timber supply, which has been insured 

 for the present and future benefit of 

 all the people — aiding private owners 

 in reforesting waste lands and in edu- 

 cating the public in the best methods 

 of handling timber lands and provid- 

 ing efiicient fire protection. 



The total amount of timber cut in 

 the United States in 1900, was thirty- 

 five billion feet; in 1905, thirty-eight 

 billion feet ; in 1909, forty-five billion 

 feet. These figures show an enormous 

 increase demonstrating beyond ques- 

 tion, the importance of extending the 

 practice of forestry to commercial 

 lumber operations. 1 business in a 

 large measure, is now hospitable to 

 forestry — seeking to understand its 

 ])rinciples and find out how they may 

 ]je ap])lied, and the most cordial, 

 thoughtful co-operation is due from the 

 forestry profession. 



While it is true that some of the 

 greatest fortunes in the country are 

 based upon lumber, they have been 

 made by treating luml)er as a specula- 

 tion and not as a l)U'>inesN. 1)\- liolding 



050 



JEROME H. SIIEIP. 



and reselling, not by cutting. The 

 writer contends that if the timber 

 owner could afiford to wait fifteen years, 

 if he charged his investment at six per 

 cent and compounded it annually, and 

 sold at the end of that term, his profit 

 would generally be greater than if he 

 had cut his trees into lumber. This 

 practically means that the saw-mill man 

 is giving away his manufacture for less 

 than it has cost him, as he is not getting 

 the appreciated price of his logs. The 

 average way the man who owns both a 

 mill and a forest figures his cost is 

 this : he buys his timber at an esti- 

 mated stumpage value of $2 per thou- 

 sand. He puts up a saw-mill after 

 waiting several years, and by the time 

 he is ready to operate, the general price 

 for stumpage is $5 per thousand ; but 

 he argues, I paid $2, and therefore 



