90 THE USE BOOK. 



a bid. Advance cutting will not be allowed when it is evident 

 that it will discourage competition. 



Applications for advance cutting should be prepared in 

 quadruplicate, and handled precisely as contracts. The officer 

 in charge of the advance cutting should be supplied with a copy 

 of the timber sale application. 



EXAMINATION OF TIMBER APPLIED FOR. 



Should the timber be cut? Unless full information is already 

 at hand, the first step upon receipt of an informal application 

 is the examination of the timber applied for. The Forest officer 

 must decide "whether the timber is mature, and whether, if it is 

 cut, a _sggni](l .growth will rppjaop it, or if the land will become 

 waste, and whether the water supply will be seriously endan- 

 'gered by the cutting, for the permanency and im]_nT)vement of 

 the forest must always be considered more important than imme- 

 diate returns. The need for the timber should always be inves- 

 tigated with special reference to the future local demand and 

 supply. 



Applications for all the merchantable timber on a watershed 

 should not be recommended for approval if a community is 

 dependent upon it. 



The future stand. In any sale of green timber, good repro- 

 duction, and in mixed forests, reproduction of the more valu- 

 able kinds must be assured before a sale can be recommended. 

 \A T henever possible, a stand of young, thrifty trees should be left 

 to form the basis of a second crop. In selecting kinds or sizes 

 /of trees which should be left, the present and the future value 

 / of the manufactured product, the rate of growth, power of re- 

 I production, liability to windfall, resistance to fire, and present 

 j and prospective damage from insects or fungus disease should 

 1 be borne in mind. 



Method of cutting. If the timber can be cut safely, then it 

 must be determined whether all trees below an approximate 

 diameter or only selected seed trees of valuable kinds should 

 be left, or if seed trees are to be used, whether they shouldHSe 

 left singly or in groups or strips. 



