THE FOREST AS A RESOURCE. 45 



fact he does not recognize or consider that the 

 forest is not merely a mine, but a reproducible re- 

 source, a living, growing crop, the product of the 

 soil and climate, which can be reproduced ad libi- 

 tum, in even superior quantity and quality to what 

 nature alone and unaided has done. 



His methods of removing the standing timber 

 are not only wasteful, for under the present 

 economic conditions prevailing in most parts of the 

 United States hardly more than 20 to 30 per cent, 

 rarely 40 to 50 per cent, of the material in the felled 

 trees is utilized, but they decrease the capacity 

 of the land for producing valuable timber. 



By culling out the most valuable kinds, leaving 

 undesirable kinds and poor trees to shade the 

 young growth that may have developed, he pre- 

 vents the reproduction of a valuable crop, and 

 hence such culled areas, while they still appear as 

 forested, have often lost their entire value as pro- 

 ducers of useful material ; the growth on the land 

 being an encumbrance rather, to be got rid of first, 

 before profitable use of the soil either for agri- 

 cultural crops or for useful wood crops can take 

 place. 



It thus may happen that the charcoal burner, 

 who cuts the entire growth of wood, produces less 

 injury to the future condition of the forest resource, 

 for he gives at least equal chance to the valuable 

 and less valuable kinds to reoccupy the ground, 

 while the lumberman gives the advantage to the 



