APPLIED FORESTRY 



HOW much is a tract of forest worth? You can buy 

 it for so much. But is it worth more or less than 

 that? You can sell it for so much. But are you get- 

 ting what it is really worth or will the buyer lose money on it? 

 You can make it produce a certain amount of lumber. But 

 could it be producing more, or are your operations depleting 

 your principal without your knowledge? 



The admitted fact that no owner of a forest can do more 

 than make a guess as to the actual value of his property, unless 

 its value is determined by scientific measurements, suggests 

 the wide scope for the application of modern methods in the 

 efficient management of forest properties. 



An ignorance of basic worth at once betrays an ignorance 

 as to the proper methods of conservation. The best of inten- 

 tions, unwisely directed, may be doing more to lessen the 

 value of property than careless waste for the sake of present 

 profits. When scientifically taken, profits can often be 

 greatly increased without harming the remaining values. In 

 fact, as in all scientific management, scientific forestry works 

 for the maximum returns for both present and future by avoiding 

 needless waste and destruction and by making more intensive 

 use of the present crop. 



It is because of the deplorable ignorance of actual values, 

 and of proper methods of protecting future values, that there 

 has, within recent years, gone up a great cry as to the need 

 of forest conservation. 



So wasteful have been the methods, even under supposedly 

 well regulated management, and so flagrant have been the 

 abuses under the heedless management of those caring only 

 for present profits, that a real danger has threatened the natural 

 woodland resources of this country. The doleful picture of a 

 country with a depleted and inadequate supply of wood mate- 

 rial, held up before the eyes of the public to arouse sentiment 

 against the fearful wastes going on in forest operations, is no 



The need of 



definite 



knowledge 



Wasteful 

 methods 



