128 



FOREST COMMISSIONER S REPORT. 



man's interest. It is the State's interest.* In timber like 

 this, orowth is balanced by decay. Dead trees stand scat- 

 tered throuirhout it. Upon this very acre there was one, 

 several more were dying or imperfect, while several doubt- 

 less of the twenty-eight full grown trees scored are every 

 year decreasing in their value. These large old trees too 

 cumber the ground. Producing litttle themselves, they yet 

 by their shading keep down the young growth which could 

 make good use of the room. No one can dispute the lumber- 

 man's light or interest in regard to these trees. It is only 

 the small timber, a quarter of the total stand, that we have to 

 take into consideration. Let us have this material directly 

 before us, disrei^ardiniy ai^ain for clearness' sake the trees 

 below six inches in diameter. 



Small Trees on the Pakkertown acre. 



Yearly growtli in cubic feet. It); at rate of 2.8% compound Interest. 



Yearly growth in feet, board measure, 74; at rate of 3% compound interest. 



*Tempered of course with the idea of business stability. Thrifty trees of 

 medium size might too be left in a carefully considered management to obtain 

 what the Germans call the Lichtungszuwachs, that is the growth to the largest 

 size in an opened stand. Such a course in general would also tend to maintain 

 the proportion of the species on the land. 



So great a self-denial of present profit I have not thought it practicable to 

 advocate or discuss in this repoi-t. That it is however not to be dropped entirely 

 out of our consideration, the mention of it by Mr. Crawford in his outline of a 

 conservative cutting policy, quoted on later pages, must prove. Mr. Crawford is 

 a practical man, and he wouldn't broach such an idea if it were not within the 

 bounds of possibility. 



