1900. 



AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION. 



221 



Never empty a pipe near forest litter. 



Whoever observes these precautions 

 may feel reasonably sure that he at least 

 has had no hand in whatever destruction 

 the autumn season may bring. Though 

 to observe them is the least a camper can 

 do, it is also, in most cases, the most ; and 

 when the most is so little one is under a 

 double obligation not to shirk. 



What Forestry 

 Isn't. 



In strange and dis- 

 appointing contrast to 

 the present frequency 

 of speeches and articles on forestry, is the 

 persistence with which many of their 

 authors speak of the forester as if he were 

 primarily a grower of trees whose chief 

 work and aim is to plant seed. These 

 people never weary of saying : Plant trees 

 after you've cut; To preserve the forest 

 resources of the country plant. Naturally 

 the first question they suggest to the mind 

 of the common-sense reader or hearer is : 

 How long shall I have to wait for these 

 trees to mature? But here with the word 

 plant they end, and take no trouble to an- 

 swer this question properly, or to show 

 that the criticism which it involves has but 

 a limited bearing on the value of forestry. 

 As a result the old, and well-worn state- 

 ment that forestry must be left to the 

 government, is still made again and again, 

 and the consequent crop of misapprehen- 

 sions may be seen on every side. Only 

 recently for instance the editor of a lumber- 

 journal began an article by saying: " It 

 seems to be pretty well understood that 

 from a business standpoint, forestry is not 

 a good proposition ;" and a few weeks be- 

 fore the same editor gave an editorial the 

 title, "Forestry versus Commercialism" 

 (Mississippi Valley Lumberman for July 

 2yth) a phrase as self-contradictory as 

 would be one implying that agriculture, 

 say, is essentially unbusiness-like. Rightly 

 or not the seemingly authoritative repeti- 

 tion of such sayings has confirmed the 

 inertia of scores to whom it comes easy 

 to abide by the old ways of wasteful- 

 ness. The word forestry is frequently 

 used in a manner which shows that it is 

 supposed to imply expense and sacrifice, 



not something which brings with it a ma- 

 terial reward. 



But is all this right and true? The ex- 

 perience of the practical men in Maine, 

 New York and other States who are find- 

 ing it profitable to manage their woodlands 

 for a repeated yield has already proved 

 that it is utterly wrong and mistaken. 

 The trouble is that the people who try to 

 show that there can be no alliance between 

 private enterprise and the forester by 

 citing such facts as that " it takes from 

 eighty to one hundred years fora Pine tree 

 to attain its best commerical value " (to 

 quote again from the editorial above re- 

 ferred to) are unpractical themselves. 

 They consider disadvantages and obstacles 

 only. They recognize the impossibility of 

 planting White Pine on the cleared and 

 burned-over wastes of Michigan and Wis- 

 consin with profit, as long as present tax- 

 laws are in operation ; but they overlook 

 the fact that even in these two states con- 

 ditions often favor the encouragement of 

 trees which mature faster than White Pine. 

 With a carelessness as unbusiness-like as 

 that of which they accuse the forester they 

 reason off-hand on the assumption that a 

 forest is useless until the trees in it have 

 attained " their best commercial value." 

 They neglect the possibility of profit from 

 improvement cuttings, and they apparently 

 ignore entirely the all-important consider- 

 ation that a forester's work may, and should 

 begin, not after a clearing has been deserted, 

 but before cutting has been commenced, and 

 that many years of the undoubtedly slow 

 process of reforestation can frequently be 

 forestalled. Even in the cases where the 

 planting of slow-growing trees is the only 

 possibility, those who talk about the im- 

 practicability of private forestry seem to be 

 blind to the value of long-time investments. 

 Above all and constantly they forget that, 

 as the Southern Lumberman recently re- 

 marked, " There can be no difficulty in 

 realizing a profit on anything as soon as it 

 can be shown that the profit is there." 



The affirmative based on fact may be 

 worth any number of theorizing negatives, 

 but too often it is only the negatives that 

 get a hearing. The idea that forestry 

 may help a man to make money, as well 



