SILVICULTURE. 169 



i 



in the young growth has led to the curious belief 

 among lumbermen that it does not propagate itself 

 by seed. 



The forester, on the other hand, treats the forest 

 as a permanent investment and as a crop. All his 

 operations keep in mind continuity and permanency 

 for the future. Reproduction not only, but repro- 

 duction of the most useful kinds 1 and superior 

 quality is his aim. 



The forester, instead of culling out the best kinds 

 first, as the lumberman does, would take out the 

 undesirable ones first, and thus improve the com- 

 position of his crop. The material which results 

 from these so-called " improvement cuttings " may 

 sometimes not directly pay for the labor spent on 

 them, but they are cultural operations, designed 

 to put the property in more useful condition for 

 the future, and hence they are at least indirectly 

 profitable. 



When in this way the desirable kinds have been 

 given the advantage (or sometimes simultaneously 

 with the improvement cuttings), a gradual removal 

 of these takes place, either of single individuals here 

 and there, or of groups of them, making larger or 

 smaller openings ; or else more or less broad strips 

 are cleared, on which the seed falling from the 

 remaining neighboring growth can find lodgement, 



1 Of the nearly 500 species native to our country, only about 70 

 furnish wood of sufficient size and quality to deserve the attention 

 of the forester. 



