148 forestry Quarterly. 



4. They are too academic, i.e., they fail to apply common 

 sense and good judgment in regard to future management. 



Aside from the purely silvical discussions, plans have in most 

 cases followed closely European ideas as expressed in books. 

 The trouble has largely been that there was no system of Ameri- 

 can forestry, and that plans were in many cases made by men of 

 too little experience. The foundation of their forestry education 

 has naturally been European practice. This has been so thor- 

 oughly drilled into men that it takes a long time for them to get 

 away from it. For this reason such books as Schlich's have been 

 freely consulted in the preparation of plans. The following of 

 European methods has been done at a sacrifice of sound business 

 judgment. 



5. They attempt regulation of yield by scientific and mathe- 

 matical principles, based on insufficient data without reference to 

 local conditions. 



Most of the plans attempt the regulation of the yield, although 

 they are silent on its distribution. The favorite method is by 

 volume based on mathematical formulae. The methods used so 

 far have been nothing less than mathematical slight of hand. 

 The basis of such calculations has not always been sound. Thus, 

 in one case elaborate calculations have been based on timber 

 estimates', which are perhaps 50 per cent, below the truth and 

 upon increment measured on 200 trees in a virgin stand. It is 

 the writer's opinion that the regulation of the yield on most of the 

 National Forests is at the present time of little importance. The 

 forests are pra-ctically all virg-in and forestry cannot be practised 

 until many of the stands are cut. The annual cut should, there- 

 fore, he based upon local conditions such as markets and accessi- 

 bility regardless of -whether this cut -will be larger or smaller than 

 one based on mathetnatical formulae. One of the standard Euro- 

 pean methods may, however, be used as a check. 



6. They are not practical, i.e., they do not work. 



All of the foregoing discussion tends to show that the plans 

 are impractical for the administration of the forest. This is a 

 fact which has several times been brought to the attention of the 

 writer by Supervisors. If this is true, then a radical change in 

 working plans is necessary. 



The time and effort spent upon past plans is, however, not 



