Comment. 13^ 



board feet per acre is impossible except by referring to stated 

 conditions. 



Yet it is desirable to have some data for rapid comparison, 

 and such we may secure by averaging conditions, somewhat as 

 follows. On better sites in old timber 60 per cent, of saw timber, 

 and 40 per cent, for poor sites; for medium old timber (80 to 

 100 years) 50 and 30 per cent, respectively; for young timber 

 (below 80 years) 40 per cent, on good sites and 20 per cent, on 

 poor sites, keeping in mind that poor sites have often hardly 

 any saw logs before 60 to 80 years. The corresponding con- 

 version factors would then be reduced to say .05-.07; .03-.05; 

 .02-.04 for the three different positions, using the lower figure 

 for poorer conditions. Since most of the rotations of German 

 forests circle around 100 years for statements of final yield, the 

 likely saw log output found by using the factor .06 will probably 

 hit the average of yields including thinnings, the average product 

 at that age being 40,000 feet board measure, with a maximum of 

 over 100,000 feet and a minimum of say 2,500 feet. 



The Biltmore bubble is burst ! We do not intend to convey any 

 invidious insinuations on the enterprise by this alliteration, but 

 only to express in the picturesque language which the director 

 of the Biltmore school would be apt to use the cessation of a 

 picturesque institution. Dr. Schenck has written himself its pic- 

 turesque obituary, and in doing so has departed from the usual 

 mode of obituaries, which are built on the maxim de niortuis nil 

 nisi bene, by giving a slap to its graduates. He insinuates and 

 complains that none of them "had made notable successes," that 

 they "did not make any striking successes," that "none had be- 

 come a live advertisement for the Biltmore forest school," and 

 that they had to "start at the bottom everywhere." This last 

 statement is indeed amusing. What did the director expect ? Did 

 he suppose they would start at the top? We can name at least a 

 half dozen of his men who have made good, and a few who are 

 first-class and do not deserve the slap. It is our suspicion that 

 they made good in spite of the school, which was carried on upon 

 mistaken pedagogic principles, when introducing immediately to 

 the practical field without previous fundamental or systematic 

 theoretical training a motley crowd with various degrees of even 

 general education. The lack of quiet study time alone would be 



