64 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



3. The site. 



4. The character of the stand. 



1. The state can afford a higher rotation than can the 

 private owner; furthermore, it is the duty of the state to grow 

 timber not only for profit, but to supply future demand, espe- 

 cially in sizes requiring long rotations. 



2. The market conditions influence the rotation, inasmuch 

 as good markets and easy accessibihty permit shorter rotations, 

 whereas forests further from market and more difficult of access 

 necessitate a longer rotation to make logging at all profitable. 

 The decreasing area of virgin forest and the rapidly increasing 

 population justify the consideration of future as well as present 

 market conditions. It is reasonable to expect that the price of 

 larger timber will increase proportionately more than that of 

 smaller sizes, and hence it may be good economy, in view of 

 future market prices, to adopt a longer rotation and plan to 

 grow larger sizes of timber than present market prices would 

 warrant. 



3. The more the site is adapted to a certain species, the longer 

 can the rotation be. Conversely the more rapid growth on good 

 sites will often tend to shorten the rotation. 



4. The character of the stands influences the rotation in 

 respect to their quality and species. The better the quality of 

 the stand, the longer can the rotation be; the less thrifty stands 

 will often have to be cut before the regular rotation age. As 

 Meinecke says: * " The time at which a tree or a stand is to be 

 cut may range from a comparatively low age to the age of 

 maximum production of lumber, according to the special needs 

 the forester has in view ; but the upper limit of this range should 

 not lie beyond the period at which the gain from the increment 

 is offset by loss from decay, irrespective of the ideal amount 

 of timber a sound tree or stand might produce under favorable 

 conditions . . . the age of decline forms the basis for what 



* U. S. Dept. of Agri., Bulletin No. 275 " Forest Pathology in Forest Regula- 

 tion," Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry. Professional paper by 

 E. P. Meinecke. Reviewed Proc. Soc. .A.m. Foresters, Vol. XI, No. 2. 



