478 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



any well regulated doll's home should have. A child who 

 goes to the five and ten cent store and exchanges a dime 

 for one of these sets might well pause to think of the 

 years that have gone into the growing of the material and 

 the labor which has gone into fashioning the material 

 into its finished form. 



While Newton and Thompson Company have not al- 

 ways cut their lumber under the most approved methods, 

 they have followed a general policy of building up a 



THE ASSE.MBLY ROOM I.\ WHICH TOY BOXES ARE USUALLY 



FILLED 



timber reserve and have done much forest planting. The 

 annual growth on their 8000 acres may safely be esti- 

 mated at between three and four thousand cords, and as 

 they are not cutting from their own lands more than 

 1500 cords annually, it is easy to see that the forest 

 capital is now increasing- If this policy is continued, the 

 company will have what is called a normal forest, which 

 is a very rare thing in this country. In other words the 

 forest will have all ages of trees in the right proportion 

 to yield the greatest possible returns. When this result 

 is achieved the company will be practically self support- 

 ing as to timber. An effort is being made to increase 

 the proportion of white birch since that is the best wood 

 for turning purposes. 



A few of the lots have now been under scientific for- 

 est management for nearly a decade and are producing 

 results very satisfactory to the owners. A five acre lot 

 of white pine may be mentioned as an example. In 191 2 

 the State Forestry Department marked the trees which 

 ought to be removed for the betterment of the remaining 

 stand. 153^ cords valued at $3.00 per cord on the 

 stump were cut, thus yielding a net profit of $92.25 per 

 acre. In the fall of 1921 the crowns of the remaining 

 trees had come together in many places. Furthermore 

 the trees had just dropped an unusually heavy crop of 

 seed, pointing to the advisability of making a reproduc- 

 tion cutting. The writer had the opportunity of marking 

 as Association Forester the lot which he had marked 

 eight years previously as State Forester. About 13,000 

 feet of pine and 3,000 feet of hardwoods or a total of a 

 little over 3,000 feet per acre besides some cordwood 

 were marked. It is therefore estimated that this area 

 will yield from the two cuttings about $128.00 per acre. 

 No accurate estimate of the remaining stand was made 

 but the trees are tall and straight, and a rough guess is 



$300.00 per acre. The present cutting should result in a 

 healthy stand of small pines which will eventually take 

 the place of the old t.ees- The policy pursued by the 

 Company of cutting all logs into two foot lengths before 

 sawing enables them to use crooked logs, even including 

 large limbs. 



What has all this to do with a forest community, it 

 may be asked. Simply this: Here is an industry which 

 has existed near its base of supplies for three quarters 

 of a century. It now has 200 employees, and can look 

 forward to continued business for an indefinite period 

 without any serious shortage of raw material. There are 

 no labor difficulties here for there is the old time feeling 

 of interest between employer and employee. Many of 

 the men and women in the plant are of the second and 

 third generation of families who have worked with the 

 same company. Most of them own their homes; many 

 of them have money in the banks or in Liberty Bonds, 

 besides owning cars. A system of profit sharing has been 

 introduced by the management which will benefit the 

 men in the more responsible positions. 



One of the best features about this thriving industry 

 is the opportunity it gives for home work. Women and 

 older children can put in their spare time filling the little 

 boxes with toys while they are still in the home atmos- 

 phere. This is done by taking to each home a barrel of 

 wash tubs, a barrel of scrubbing boards, etc. and a case 

 of boxes. In a day or so the boxes are collected, each 

 one full of a complete set of doll house equipment. 



ANOTHER HIGHLY DEVELOPED COMMERCIAL PRODUCT OF 

 THE VERMONT FORESTS 



To one visiting this attractive little community at For- 

 estdale there must come visions of the large industrial 

 centers of the country with their rows of uniform gray 

 houses, smoke covered and dingy. It would not be 

 strange if he departed with the feeling that perhaps our 

 'gigantic industrial plants amid their squalid surroundings 

 may not, after all, be the highest product of man's in- 

 genuity. Possibly he will see in this comfortable and sat- 

 isfied community an answer to the industrial unrest which 

 is abroad, and will understand the difference between 

 the contentment which comes from the development of 

 homes under liveable conditions, and the inevitable grow- 

 ing hatred that is fostered by the contrasts of a great 

 city, such as are afforded by the lights of Broadway and 

 the shades of the East Side. 



