694 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



In cutting hardwoods for saw timber, 

 a rigid diameter limit is usually em- 

 ployed and the forests are left in an 

 extremely bad condition due to the fact 

 that all old culls are left on the ground 

 and these usually form a large per cent 

 of the stand in the Adirondack region. 

 These culls should be removed where- 

 ever it can be done without loss and 

 where they have to be left they should 

 be killed by girdling in order to give 

 the young trees all the light and soil 

 energy. 



The first cutting in hardwood stands 

 is sometimes a selection cutting, taking 

 out the cherry or ash or wdiatever the 

 most valuable species may be and thus 

 practically doing away with any possible 

 reproduction of the species bringing in 

 the greatest return. If a hardwood 

 stand is to be kept at anything like its 

 maximum capacity, we must aim in all 

 operations to get rid of the large, over- 

 mature and decayed specimens which 

 are commonly called culls. Of course 

 this means much added expense during 

 the first operations, but it means also 

 a tremendous financial gain at future 

 cuts. On the whole, then, hardwoods 

 could probably be cut to advantage by 

 using an elastic diameter limit, taking 

 care in all cases to make such cuttings 

 as will improve the condition of the 

 stand. 



The greatest future profit could prob- 

 ably be realized from hardwood stands 

 by underplanting with softwood species. 



The consideration of lumbering 

 methods and markets hardly need be 

 commented on, as such studies would 

 be absolutely necessary to any operation. 



WHAT FORESTRY HAS DONE. 



Alost people who have been interested 

 in the subject of conservation for the 

 past few years know that this move- 

 ment is nothing new to the world, but 

 that it has been practiced for centuries 

 by many of the European countries. In 

 fact forestry is practiced by every civil- 

 ized country in the world except China 

 and Turkey, and these countries, China 

 in particular, are glaring examples of 

 what deforestation can do to wreck 

 the prosperity of a nation. 



These two countries are close to the 

 bottom of the scale of civilization and 

 bring out well the force of the state- 

 ment that the progressiveness of a 

 country can be measured directly from 

 its practice of forestry. 



England is the only exception to this 

 rule and before long she must take de- 

 cided steps in reforestation, as the tim- 

 ber exporting countries of Europe are 

 fast coming to the point where they 

 need at home all they are able to pro- 

 duce. 



The principles of forestry are much 

 the same the world over and they may 

 be reduced to two fundamental princi- 

 ples. First, that of obtaining a maxi- 

 mum yield per acre from forest land ; 

 second, cutting annually only what the 

 forests produce. 



The European countries have passed 

 through the stage in which the United 

 States finds herself today. Forestry in 

 the United States as it is being put 

 forward by its exponents is not guess 

 work by mad theorists ; it is a definite, 

 practical science, which has been worked 

 up by countries which have been forced 

 to provide a wood supply and forest 

 cover or perish from the earth. The 

 countries which have gone farthest in 

 this direction and have the smallest 

 areas of waste land are those which 

 are the most prosperous and have, the 

 brighest future. They are also the 

 countries which have spent the most 

 money per acre for forestry. 



WHAT FORESTRY CAN DO. 



By looking over the examples of 

 forestry in other countries, we can see 

 very plainly that forestry pays ; and it 

 pays returns in a like proportion to the 

 money expended for proper manage- 

 ment. 



The United States is as yet only in 

 the first stages of a good conservation 

 policy and it is extremely important 

 that, if we wish to preserve our pros- 

 perity, we learn from the experiences 

 of other countries, rather than wait to 

 be forced into the proper channels. 



Forestry in the United States and 

 particularly in New York State can ac- 

 complish certain results. This is not 



