CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING. 41 



be lumbered steadily and systematically, or why they 

 should fail to yield a steadily increasing return. That 

 reason is the rapid destruction of the forests them- 

 selves. There is grave danger that the best of our 

 forests will all be gone before their protection and 

 perpetuation b}^ wise use can be begun. The spread of 

 a working knowledge of practical forestry is likely to 

 be too slow. 



CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AND ORDINARY LUMBERING. 



Conservative lumbering is distinguished from ordi- 

 nary lumbering in three ways: 



First. The forest is treated as a working capital 

 whose purpose is to produce successive crops. 



Second. With that purpose in view, a working plan 

 is prepared and followed in harvesting the forest crop. 



Third. The work in the woods is carried on in such 

 a way as to leave the standing trees and the young 

 growth as nearly unharmed by the lumbering as pos- 

 sible. 



A forest working plan is intended to give all the in- 

 formation needed to decide upon and carry out the best 

 business policy in handling and perpetuating a forest. 

 It gives this information in the form of a written state- 

 ment, which covers some or all of the following topics. 

 It shows the present stand and condition of the forest, 

 and gives rules for the selection and marking of trees 

 to cut, for making the reproduction sure, and for the 

 protection of } T oung and old standing trees during 

 the logging. The working plan also predicts the 

 future yield of the forest, basing its prediction on 

 careful measurements which show how many standing 



