THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST 105 



especially when the investment of clearing is considered. The 

 resulting expanse of charred stumps and logs, producing little 

 but ferns, is a small farm asset at best. The timber it would 

 grow may eventually be a large asset. And the labor of 

 clearing applied to a smaller tract of good land is sure to 

 bring greater returns. An illustration is furnished by two 

 tracts near the end of a recently completed railroad in west- 

 ern Washington. Twenty years ago a settler slashed a large 

 area of presumably worthless sapling fir adjoining his tillable 

 bottom land, set fire to it, piled and burned the remaining 

 poles, "seeded down" a pasture, and enclosed it by an expen- 

 sive cedar rail fence. The pasture, never useful except in 

 early spring, grew up to ferns, and was finally abandoned. 

 Even the fence was moved. The settler on the next claim 

 left his part of the same sapling growth to grow and this 

 year sold the timber alone for $1,000 to a tie mill which came 

 into the neighborhood with the railroad. The moral of this 

 does not apply to cutting alone, but argues equally for pre- 

 venting fire in second growth. 



It is also poor economy, if mature timber exists, to cut 

 rapidly growing young timber for fuel because it is nearer 

 the house or easier to cut. The former has become stationary 

 in production, while the latter, if left, is earning money by 

 growing in quantity and quality. If young timber must be 

 used, and the land is not worth actually clearing for cultiva- 

 tion or pasture, it is usually far better to thin out the poorest 

 trees, thus leaving the remainder stimulated to a more rapid 

 growth, which will soon replace those removed, than to begin 

 on the edge and take everything. 



There is no reason why a certain poor-soiled timbered por- 

 tion of the average claim should not be considered as a perma- 

 nent wood lot, to be treated with the same interest and 'prittc 

 in making it produce the greatest quantity of forest products 

 for sale or use that the owner accords his fields. With this 

 point of view established and consequent study given the sub- 

 ject, it will also be easier to decide how large this portion 

 should be. In many cases the result will be abandonment of 



