HOW LUMBERMEN HAVE SERVED THE PUBLIC 281 



myself to noting the broad fact that around the southwest angle of 

 Maine, the point where in 1630 lumbering on a commercial scale on this 

 continent had very nearly its beginning, a thriving and sustained 

 business in lumber is done today, I will pass on, and in this field take 

 up but two more illustrations, both of which have been developed in 

 recent meetings of this Society. 



Mr. Eldredge, the other evening, gave a very interesting account of 

 conditions in Florida. He said the native forest looked like a hard 

 proposition for the forester — it was dry, there was no reproduction, it 

 seemed like a hopeless proposition to regenerate it. Then he told of 

 the wonderful natural protection of the pine seedlings of which we all 

 know, and said that for miles and miles in that country (I really 

 gathered the idea that it was a general condition) after the lumbermen 

 had taken all they wanted from the forests, knocked them all to 

 •pieces and let the fires run without hindrance, there was full pine 

 reproduction. 



Third, the relation of larch and pine in the National Forests of the 

 Inland Empire has been mentioned at these meetings. The history I 

 understand to be that after several years' trial and experiment along 

 lines suggested by forestry theory it was concluded at the finish that 

 the practice of lumbermen on their own lands, following their own 

 immediate interest, was very close to the true line of practice, silvi- 

 cally, financially, and every other way. Two things are involved 

 here — first, that lumbermen had a sound understanding of timber 

 economics and values ; second, that their practice proved to be good 

 silviculture. 



The principle involved here could be given much wider illustration, 

 but for the present purpose clear formulation of the idea will be suffi- 

 cient. I don't, of course, mean to say that things always work that way, 

 that study of such things is useless, or that designed control is not 

 necessary in some cases. The practical upshot of what I have meant to 

 ^ay was stated in an address I made in British Columbia last winter — 

 that a practice found in actual lumbering is pretty liable to be good 

 forestry in the long run and should not be disturbed unless clear reasons 

 are found for so doing. 



Sustained yield is a prominent and, central idea in forestn,- litera- 

 ture. It came over from Germany 25 years ago in full strength and 

 vigor, but contact with our own unstable business conditions has 



