FOREST RESERVATIONS. 191 



replanting within a certain period it is done by the government. 

 It is the very general settled policy of the provincial governments 

 to keep in forest about the same area that is now devoted to 

 this purpose, and since the water powers in the valleys are 

 dependent for the regularity of their supply upon the forests that 

 are upon the mountain sides, the government reasons that the 

 exercise of some supervision in this matter is necessary for the 

 well being of all. Where forests are owned by municipalities, 

 the municipal authorities can generally hire their own superin- 

 tendent, but in some provinces the government generally man- 

 ages to have laws passed that will make it most convenient for 

 municipalities to employ the government superintendent. In the 

 case of municipal forests the governments generally allow the 

 cutting of only the increase each year. If this matter was left 

 entirely to the will of the people they would frequently sacrifice 

 the future for present gains. This supervision may be likened 

 very much to that which is exercised in this state in preventing 

 cities and towns from acquiring an indebtedness beyond a certain 

 percentage of their taxable valuation. However, in case there is 

 a pressing need for some public improvement, as for instance a 

 schoolhouse, the government may allow extra cuttings for this 

 special purpose, but in after years the annual cuttings must be 

 lessened until the capital growing stock of wood on the land is 

 made good. 



Forest Reservations and National Parks. Many of the 

 forest reservations in this country are in need of immediate 

 attention. Much of the virgin timber on them has passed its 

 prime and is decaying, and the constant liability to forest fires 

 makes the young growth very unsafe. The increased demand for 

 timber and the high price for the same has encouraged lumber- 

 men in trying to have the timber on such reservations thrown 

 onto the market. When cut in the ordinary manner there is 

 practically nothing left, and the end of the tree growth is reached. 

 If this were to be managed in a proper way the mature trees 

 would be cut as soon as there was a demand for lumber, and 

 those trees should be left which are still growing thriftily. In 

 some cases there is talk of utilizing some of these reservations as 

 national parks, and in America too often the park idea means 

 simply a piece of land from which nothing is removed. The 

 best plan for managing these large tracts of timber would proba- 



