HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 47 



where is such work done when it does not pay to do it. 

 The cheapness of labor and scarcity of wood in continen- 

 tal countries enable foresters to actually sell brush and 

 twigs for enough to cover the cost of removal. Every 

 stick of material produced has its value — and thinnings 

 instead of being an expense, are a source of actual in- 

 come. In our country there are wide areas where it does 

 not even pay to sell cordwood, since the cost of cutting 

 and transportation more than equals the price received 

 for it. In a few localities near large cities, small material 

 can be sold for various uses, chiefly fuel, but over the 

 greater part of our forest domain a tree must not only 

 be of a valuable species, but must reach a size where it 

 is fit for lumber, railroad ties or other important com- 

 mercial use, before it can be cut at a profit. To cut out 

 material which is not salable, would be to incur a large 

 expense for which the fiml yield might not give an ade- 

 quate return. This necessity, which is universal, of lim- 

 iting the expense of their operations in conformity with 

 the market, makes it very difficult for American foresters 

 to do many things that they would like to do otherwise, 

 but true forestry is to make the best and most profitable 

 investment in the forest and not to sink money in fancy 

 operations, which will never be returned. This necessi- 

 tates more extensive operations. Instead of managing a 

 few acres with the greatest care, the American forester 

 is forced to care for many thousands of acres as well as 

 he can with a small annual expense, and depend very 

 largely on nature to produce the crops of trees. 



Planting. 



Artificial planting is therefore not as widely applica- 

 ble in the United States as in Europe. But it is one of 

 the surest ways of securing the largest and best crop 

 from an acre of land, and in the East and on farmland 

 is being quite extensively practiced. It is a safe quick 



