History of the Forest 291 



forestry is strictly a business proposition. On account of 

 the long time element involved, it is a business that is 

 better handled by the state or other long-lived corporations, 

 but it may also be made a paying proposition for the in- 

 dividual owner. It is based on strictly business principles. 

 Far from keeping the virgin forests untouched for the use 

 of future generations as the sentimentalists proposed, the 

 forester cuts his timber just as soon as it ceases to earn 

 a reasonable percentage of profit. He cannot afford to 

 have land that might be growing young timber occupied 

 by old trees that have ceased to grow ; this is poor forestry 

 because it is poor business. The only difference between 

 a forester and a lumberman is that the former never cuts 

 till he is assured of a second crop and a consequent higher 

 value of his cut-over land, and the latter works for the 

 highest possible present cut regardless of the future ; each 

 is working for the highest money revenue from the land as 

 he sees it. 



The forester works for a good reproduction before he 

 cuts his first crop, because he does not want the land to 

 be idle for a minute. He conducts cultural methods to 

 increase the rate of growth so that the mature timber may 

 be secured sooner and his profits be correspondingly larger. 

 He cuts carefully that there may be less waste ; he selects 

 poor soil that his rent may be low and the profit high. 

 Every one of these measures is governed by the principles 

 of profit and loss ; none of them by sentiment. Whether 

 the forest be for the production of timber, the protection 

 of mountain slopes or for esthetic purposes, the question 

 of profit is never forgotten. The financial outcome is 

 always considered as the true basis and is changed only as 



