376 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



THE BILTMORE FOREST SYSTEM. 



The first practical applica'tiou of forest management in the United 

 States has been initiated in North Carolina, known as the Biltmore 

 estate, owned by George W.Vanderbilt and superintended by Gififord 

 Pinchot. It covers 7,282 acres. An illustrated exhibit of it occupied 

 a prominent position at the Columbian Exposition in the forestry 

 building. Mr. Pinchot is a well posted forester and understands 

 what he is about. His report of the first year's work, commenced 

 May 1, 1893, on this estate is very creditable. It gives an elaborate 

 description of the locality on the French Broad river in the western 

 part of that state, its configuration, its geological deposits, its 

 meteorological peculiarities, its natural species of trees, its injured- 

 forest condition, arising- from haphazard cutting of the better trees, 

 frequent fires and the brousing- of cattle. Mr, Pinchot says that "at 

 the time when the forest management was begun on the estate, the 

 condition of a large part of the forest was deplorable in the ex- 

 treme." 



By cutting such trees as was necessary to begin the improvement 

 amid the widespread chaos, and selling the same for lumber, cord 

 wood and railroad ties, there was realized a balance, net, of $392.40, 

 the first year. It is presuinptive that with judicious and economic 

 management, the profits will augment from year to year, and in- 

 stead of raiding the forest for money considerations, it is fitting it 

 to be a profit investment for all the years to come. 



A nursery has been established on the estate, already containing 

 more kinds of trees and shrubs than there are in the botanical gar- 

 dens at Kew, near London, and the number is being steadily in- 

 creased. It is the intention to plant these along the line of a road 

 to be called the "Arboretum Drive." This road, about five miles in 

 length, will run through some of the most beautiful portions of the 

 estate, and will be lined for a hundred feet on either side by the 

 plants of the collections, making this arboretum the finest in exis- 

 tence. 



The reader will note with what prudence Mr. Pinchot proceeds in 

 the start. He found the "old spreading trees were seriously injur- 

 ing the young growth below them, and it was impossible to found 

 a system of management on the lives of the older specimens, which, 

 in many cases, were already perishing. It became necessary, there- 

 fore, to institute a series of improvement cuttings which should re- 

 move these older trees, and prepare the way for a working plan under 

 the ' Regular High Forest System,' the characteristic of which is that 

 the trees of the same age are grouped together, so that there are 

 (theoretically) as many separate groups as there are years in the 

 age of the oldest trees." 



He found two limitations imposed themselves at once. " No older 

 trees could be cut where the young crop was very far from being- 

 dense enough to protect the soil, and no cuttings could be made 

 which would cost more than the value of the product. The term of 

 six years was tentatively set for carrying out these cuttings and the 

 inaugurating of the working plan. It was almost impossible to set 



