53 



curtails profits must be avoided, cheap production of the harvest is his only 

 hope of satisfactory margin ; his business is to reap the present harvest, and 

 only that part which pays ; the future must take care of itself. The stand- 

 point of the logger is properly and consistently chosen, whatever may be 

 the point of view of the economist. 



The lumberman, like any other business man, chooses first of all or a\- 

 together to consider his private pocket interest, which lies in the present ; 

 he cannot afford or does not choose to include a distant future in his cal- 

 culations, for the future belongs to others. 



What is the result of his operations in the forest ? 

 Since nature produces mostly mixed forest and does so without any 

 economic considerations as to composition, quality and quantity, producing 

 weed trees with the valuable, old and young, large and small, the merchan- 

 table with the unmerchantable, in careless mixture, and since the lumber- 

 man takes only the desirable kinds and the best sizes, cutting here and 

 there, his operations may leave the forest in such a condition that a layman 

 may not even see a change has taken place the forest cover is hardly inter- 

 rupted, the few trees taken are not missed, the debris soon decays, and 

 seemingly no damage is done. This is often the case where a hardwood 

 forest contains a few conifers, and these alone are taken. If the desirable 

 kinds are more frequent, and hence the openings larger and more frequent, 

 the debris more plentiful, the interference becomes more readily visible. 

 Finally, where, as in the pineries, in the Redwoods, in the coniferous forest 

 generally, the mercantile kinds and sizes cover the ground nearly entirely, 

 the lumberman's selective cutting becomes almost or entirely a clearing, a 

 real denudation. 



In each of the three cases, there is one damage that is likely to result, 

 namely, an undesirable change in aftergrowth. 



If, as is customary, he culls from the mixed forest only those specie* 

 which are useful to him, and leaves in possession the less desirable, the 

 weeds, these necessarily provide for the succession of their own kind. If 

 it be a shade-enduring species which he values, like the spruce, its repro- 

 duction may still be possible, provided the openings are large enough, and 

 enough seed trees are left to provide the new progeny, although necessarily 

 the amount of the useful reproduction must be curtailed. If it is a light- 

 needing species, 1'ke the white pine, that he has culled, its reproduction is 

 practically prevented in many cases by the mere presence of the unused 

 portions of the stand. In the competition with other, especially shade-en- 

 during, trees, the light-needing species is placed at a disadvantage and dis- 

 appears from the woods, unless man himself actively assists in its re-estab- 

 lishment. 



If he clear the entire native growth, but leave a neighboring stand un- 

 touched, the species with light-winged seeds and capable of developing in 

 full sunlight without the protecting shade of mother trees, will soon re- 

 cover the bared ground. 



