MEANING OF FOREST AND FORESTRY 7 
spruce or pine, or any other species, or several species 
together, if they are of equal value, and then follows 
the rule of cutting only mature and undesirable trees, 
he would be practising forestry. By irregular forest 
is meant a forest consisting of trees of all ages. Were 
one to cut his forest clean, and plant it afresh, he 
would be practising forestry. Were one to cut his 
forest in such a way that sufficient seed trees will 
be left, and care for it in such a way that only de- 
sirable kinds will be allowed to grow, he would be 
practising forestry. In remote districts, however, a 
poor system is better than none, and in many instances 
our ideals must be sacrificed to meet existing con- 
ditions, so that if the forest is merely protected from 
fire much is accomplished. 
In India, for instance, where forestry is well un- 
der way, as much is done as we can hope to do for 
some time in this country. This is well expressed in 
the words of Ribbentrop in his Forestry in British 
India: “ All we ean, in the majority of cases, suc- 
ceed in doing, is to protect our forests as much as pos- 
sible against fire, grazing, and other harmful inter- 
ference, and to exploit them in such manner as to 
give natural reproduction the best possible chance, 
and to assist the regeneration of the natural forests 
by such silvicultural measures as the circumstances 
of each case may demand.” 
