204 



THE FORESTER. 



August, 



The reader is doubtless wondering 

 whether we would disqualify all that com- 

 plex mixture of lusty life with disorder 

 and decay by which a primeval forest so 

 stirs our imagination, and which an ordered 

 and thorough lv managed forest lacks. The 

 best virgin forests indeed are what no 

 other foi-ests can be, but in regard to cer- 

 tain parts of our country economic condi- 

 tions make it absolutely impossible that 

 much first growth can permanently endure. 

 The part of wisdom is to accept this fact 

 and to grasp at the consolation which may 

 follow, and which will not be so insigni- 

 ficant after all. A culled forest is not so 

 inferior in appearance to an old one, and 

 it is surprising how much of what already 

 passes as old among the uncritical was 

 plainly young thirty years ago. To call 

 aloud for the forester, while inveighing 

 against the admission of the axe to the 

 woods which he is to manage, is simply 

 to multiply contradictions and to heap ob- 

 stacles in the path of the only sort of forest 

 preservation which is attainable. 



J* 



An Example of A good example of the 

 the Scenery- way in which many lovers 

 lover's Mistake, of the wilderness utterly 

 misunderstand the nature 

 of forestry occurred not long since in New 

 Hampshire. A climbing party, walking 

 in the White Mountains, met a man whom 

 they discovered to be a forester, actively 

 engaged in the pursuit of his profession. 

 As it happened, a number of them be- 

 longed to an association which exists 

 almost wholly by its interest in such ques- 

 tions as that of forest conservation, and 

 which may claim to have used its influence 

 to the great advantage of the community 

 on many occasions. It was therefore to 



be expected that they would greet the 

 forester with welcoming words ; and in 

 fact their delight was quite evident. " So 

 you're going to protect these forests," they 

 said. But when it developed that instead 

 of trying to preserve the woods, in their 

 sense of the word, the forester was plan- 

 ning to get lumber and pulp from them, 

 they were much surprised. " Then you're 

 not here to save trees but to cut them 

 down " they complained, and, being an- 

 swered in the affirmative, found it hard to 

 conceal their disgust. One of them ex- 

 plained apologetically, before he walked 

 away, "It's not the smaller trees that I 

 enjoy; I want big ones." The only an- 

 swer to give was: " So does the lumber- 

 man ; and he is willing to pay for what he 

 wants, while you are not." The man had 

 never appreciated the case in that light. 

 Nor had either he or his companions got 

 as far with their understanding of what 

 forestry is as to make application of the 

 simple truth that the preservation of the 

 forest can go on quite independent of par- 

 ticular trees. Nor did they realize what 

 is equally plain that it is fully as impor- 

 tant for the states' industries that many 

 trees should be cut as that many moun- 

 tain sides should remain under forest, 

 and that the only practical reconciliation 

 of lumbering with forest perpetuation is 

 the forester's. In short they wanted a 

 forester without an axe, and saw nothing 

 self-contradictory in the wish. Consider- 

 ing that it is people laboring under such 

 misapprehensions who give the note to 

 many a " forest movement," it is but 

 natural that many lumbermen have a strong 

 prejudice against forestry. If the forest 

 had a voice it would probably be heard 

 crying aloud " protect me from these 

 ' primeval ' friends." 





The Work of 

 the Bureau 

 of Forestry. 



NEWS, NOTES, AND COMMENT. 



As has already been stated 

 in the Forester, the Di- 

 vision of Forestry of the 

 U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture was advanced to a Bureau on 

 the first of July. Under the new arrange- 



ment Mr. Gifford Pinchot continues as 

 Forester and head of the Bureau of For- 

 estry. The advance to a bureau organiza- 

 tion permitted a much needed enlarge- 

 ment of the administrative force, and the 

 work of the Bureau of Forestry is now 



