970 JOURNAL OF FORKSTRY 



protection against fires particularly easy, and where the natural forests 

 can be appreciably improved by the planting of conifers, the use of 

 demonstration areas seems wise. The reforestation law in Massa- 

 chusetts has been effective in demonstrating practical reforestation. 

 The unit of area which could be acquired in any one tract was limited 

 purposely to eighty acres, in order to force a wide distribution of 

 demonstration centers throughout the State. These small plots have 

 been of value in demonstrating to the private land-owner the possi- 

 bilities of artificial reforestation on certain types of land in Massa- 

 chusetts, and the private owner has shown himself ready to follow the 

 leadership thus taken by the State. On the other hand, where planting 

 is unnecessary on account of abundance of natural reproduction, or 

 where it is impractical on account of one or more of different reasons, 

 such as its cost, the slowness of tree growth, or the cost of protection, 

 it is frequently impossible to bring about appreciable modification in the 

 management of private lands. Since the usefulness of demonstration 

 areas is limited almost entirely to exemplification of silvicultural meth- 

 ods, the value of these areas is much less clear in States where striking 

 modifications in silvicultural methods are impractical. Improvement 

 in woodlot or small forest management in regions of this kind depends 

 primarily upon the ability of the land-owner or operator to find com- 

 plete and satisfactory markets for his products. It is, for example, 

 merely theoretical to demonstrate the thinning of defective or weed 

 trees unless there is a market which makes the utilization of such trees 

 financially practical. There may frequently be considerable question, 

 in fact, as to just what species ought to be considered forest v/eeds. 

 For example, now that certain processes of paper manufacture permit 

 utilization of considerable balsam, that species is looked upon with 

 much more favor than formerly, its growth being faster than that of 

 its associate spruce. On the other hand, the occurrence of the blight 

 in chestnut has caused that species to be relegated in a number of 

 States from a standing among the most favored to one among the least 

 to be desired. It is, of course, scarcely probable that many species will 

 be as disappointing as has chestnut, but the lesson it teaches is the exer- 

 cise of caution in making prophecies as to future values of trees. 



Business caution is just as commendable as speculation. What the 

 woodlot owner wants is sound business advice, and there is no reason 

 why he should alter his methods in the woods except in accordance 

 with the dictates of sound business. The advantages in new methods 

 like "improvement thinnings" should be established by thorough scien- 

 tific investigation, and least of all should changes be urged in order to 



