PART II. 



FOREST MANAGEMENT. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



Under ordinary lumbering the forest is treated as if its value lay- 

 only in the merchantable timber which it contains. Under practical 

 forestry immature trees have a value because they form the basis for 

 future crops. Practical forestry, through a slight expense in the care 

 of young growth and in the protection of the forest from lire, insures 

 the production of a permanent supply of timber. Ordinary lumber- 

 ing in saving this expense sacrifices largely or wholly the productive 

 capacity of the lumbered area. 



The advantage of practical forestry as a business investment depends 

 naturally upon whether it offers better returns than those to be had 

 from ordinary lumbering. Since practical forestry reduces present 

 profits slightly, in order that the forest may produce a steady supply 

 of timber, its financial success rests upon the safety and value of the 

 future crops which it fosters. For example, uncontrollable danger of 

 fire makes forestry unadvisable, since the care given to the production 

 of a second crop may be nullified by injury to the young forest. 

 Again, a low profit on lumbering may render the probable value of 

 future crops of timber insufficient to justify the attempt to foster 

 them. 



The tract of the Sawyer & Austin Lumber Company presents con- 

 ditions which render the application of practical forestry a thoroughly 

 sound business measure. The forest contains an excellent stand of 

 merchantable timber which can be lumbered inexpensively and for 

 which there is a steady and profitable market. The protection of the 

 forest from tire is practicable at small cost and will render the repro- 

 duction of the pine a simple and certain matter. The stand of imma- 

 ture trees of certain sizes is somewhat deficient as the result of forest 

 fires in the past. This deficiency, however, is not large enough to 

 impair future yields seriously, and will be largely remedied under con- 



servative management. 



TIMBER YIELDS. 



The following table shows, approximately, the present stand of mer- 

 chantable timber per acre upon the tract of the Sawyer & Austin 

 Lumber Company and the future yields to be expected from the lum- 

 bered areas. The measurements of the stand and of its rate of growth 



40 



