286 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



2. The plan must be practical to the nth degree. The day of the 

 "paper" plan, replete with abstruse mathematical calculations of yield, 

 but lacking a definite plan of management, has long since past in 

 District 7. The district is ready for a delineation of activity that is 

 to be undertaken at once and followed consistently. 



3 The plan must be subjected to frequent critical examinations and 

 revised as often as needed to keep it abreast of the times. The plan 

 is not in itself an objective — results, only, will count. 



Though possessing these three essential qualities in common, the 

 prescriptions of management for the different working circles may 

 and probably will differ widely. This is as it should be, since the 

 success of the individual plan will depend largely upon the degree of 

 exactness with which it reflects the particular economic and silvicultu- 

 ral circumstances of the working circle to which it applies. It would 

 be a rare coincidence indeed to find two forest regions with the same 

 economic and silvicultural conditions. 



There are certain definite principles that should govern in the prepa- 

 ration of every management plan. Among these are : 



1. The working circle and not the Forest is the unit of management. 

 The Forest is primarily an administrative division and may contain 

 several working circles. The working circle is an economic subdivision 

 of a Forest; it is a forest region on which the limitations of topog- 

 raphy, or the development of transportation facilities, or the existence 

 of demand for forest products, is such that all of the stands within 

 the region should be managed in conection with each other and under 

 plans of utilization affected in common by these circumstances. In the 

 Southern Appalachians the typical working circle is a mountain valley, 

 three to five miles wide and ten to fifteen miles long, bounded on three 

 sides by mountain ridges and having a town on a railroad, or a pike, 

 at the lower end of the valley, the floor of the valley being agricultural 

 land under cultivation and supporting a population accustomed to de- 

 riving half or more of its support from the forest. 



2. Within the working circle the unit of treatment is the stand. The 

 Southern Appalachian Forests were built up through the purchase of 

 large and small tracts of timber, some entirely cut over, some lightly 

 culled, and some untouched by the lumberman. Some of these tracts 

 were cut over very recently and exhibit a stand of reproduction from 

 one to ten years old. Other tracts, cut over at a more remote date, 

 show a stand of poles from 15 to 25 years old. Some areas were 

 culled only of certain species or sizes and consequently now show 

 two stands on the same area, one of mature timber, the other of sap- 

 lings or poles as an understory. Often, especially in the larger pur- 

 chases, there are many differences as to the age and prevalence of 

 stands in different parts of the tract. The term "stand," therefore, is 



