data, MQ all knew, whether Pathological or not, that there 

 was such a thing as cull in tho Porest ; "but wo know very 

 littlo about how nuoh thore ia in a givon stand, how to 

 figure the oull factor in standing timber, how to recognize 

 and to intorprot oymptoms of decay* To did not Imow any- 

 thing do finite a"bout tho relations of cull to ago, health 

 conditions of the troo, to fire, to lightning, to frost and 

 other factors, nothing about the oxtont and sprnading of 

 decay in a givon troo, and thoir relation to such factors 

 as water content of tho hoartwood, character and uize of 

 wounds, nothing about tho amount of merchantable timber left 

 in infoctod trees. I an far from saying that wa iraow now,- 

 in fact, wo Imcw abnurdly littlo, - "but wo aro tr3ring, above 

 all, to cut out all guess work and to como down to solid 



facts and figures as the only reliable basis on which to do 



t 



bnsinoss* 



The Forest Sanitation clause in timber sale con- 

 tracts, which originated in District 5, and which is now 

 adopted for the ontiro Torest Service, is a business prepo- 

 sition pure and simple a Ho want tc got rid of snags as a 

 fire moneoe and of diseased trees as disease spreaders, We 

 want ^eproduction tr coino up under sanitary conditio^y j ./e 

 Htaiit tho space now occupied by onags, diroasod and malformed 

 trees, for growliig sound individueils yielding tho uexiiav^n 



of hip-h grado lumber, finally, wo want to save tho merch- 



154 



