828 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



adequately protect an area from fire when fire protection is the sole 

 aim of the expenditure. Especially is this true if the area is covered 

 only with popple or oak bush. Fire protection will only be obtained 

 when the forest property is maintained as a forest business and where 

 the employees are fire-fighters when need be but mostly are employed 

 for other purposes. The $5,000,000 (approximately) spent in the 

 United States at the present time for salaries for firemen who are 

 busy on fire, prol^ably not over 10 per cent of the time, could under 

 established forest business be spent for salaries for emploj^ees of forest 

 business doing constructive forestry work. 



GOOD SILVICUIvTURAL PRACTICK IS POSSIBLE ONLY WITH SUSTAINED 

 ANNUAL YIELD 



In order that good silviculture may be practiced on an area, the forest 

 must be given constant attention. Forestry is the business of raising 

 crops of timber trees. As crops they must be cared for. Thinnings 

 must be made as the occasion demands, proper attention given to insect 

 and fungi attacks, damage by wind, etc., which are certain to arise 

 during the course of the years. The practice of silviculture like the 

 practice of agriculture, even though in a rude and low state, supposes 

 a settlement. Care of a forest not only requires men on the ground to 

 watch constantly but also demands facilities for removing and utilizing 

 the products of the forest. 



Under the present system of forest devastation over large areas, 

 men and equipment are removed and roads and means of transportation 

 abandoned. It is nearly as impossible to give proper silvicultural atten- 

 tion to a forest without a crew of men constantly on the ground as it is 

 to protect it from fire without men, and much the same reasons hold 

 good in both cases. 



There are many serious results of large clear cuttings which become 

 evident by trial. Many insects appear in destructive numbers. The 

 damage from weeds, frost, and heat is greater the larger the openings. 

 For tender species which grow slowly in the juvenile stage it is an 

 acknowledged principle of silviculture to avoid large openings. In fact, 

 on the Michigan State forests, where the task of silviculture is mostly 

 one of reforestation on the cut-over and many-times burned-over lands, 

 it is found to be almost a hopeless task to get any coniferous trees 

 except jack pine to grow on the barren lands. The best success by far 

 is obtained by underplanting, that is, planting the seedlings under the 



