173 





PRINCIPLES OF FOREST WORKING PLANS. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



FOREST working plans regulate, according to time and 

 locality, the management of forests in such a manner, that the 

 objects of the industry are as fully as possible realized. As 

 the latter differ widely, it follows that working plans cannot be 

 drawn up according to any special pattern. The working 

 plan for a protection forest, or a park-like forest, is altogether 

 different from that of a forest which is managed on economic 

 principles. In this volume only forests of the latter class will 

 be considered, that is to say, it will be explained how forests 

 should be managed so as to produce the best financial results, 

 or the greatest volume, or the most suitable class of produce. 



The yield (or the return) of a forest consists of major or 

 principal and minor produce. Under the former, timber, fire- 

 wood and bark are understood. It is in the nature of things 

 that forests should chiefly yield such articles ; at the same 

 time, articles of minor produce (such as turpentine, fodder, 

 grazing, fruits, caoutchouc, etc.) are frequently of considerable 

 importance, and demand modifications of that management, 

 which would be indicated by considering only the realization of 

 major produce. 



Major produce is again divided into the final and interme- 

 diate yields. The latter comprise the thinnings which are 

 made from time to time during the course of the life of a wood, 

 while the former is the return yielded by the final cutting 

 of the wood, to be followed by a new crop. 



The major produce of forests, wood, is one of the indispen- 



