686 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Union where cutting is not being car- 

 ried on in excess of the growth. 



We can triple the growth of our for- 

 ests by means of proper management. 

 We can reduce wastes to a very great 

 extent. We can do away very largely 

 with forest fires. While we are ac- 

 complishing this, our population is in- 

 creasing by leaps and bounds and not 

 only increasing the demand, but taking 

 up land where we now grow timber. 



Every minute lost in taking the proper 

 care of our forests will be dearly paid 

 for in the future. 



In New York there are 400,000 acres 

 absolutely denuded of valuable forest 

 growth. This area will have to be re- 

 planted at an expense of three or four 

 million dollars if we are to re-establish 

 a profitable forest cover. There are 

 several million acres which at the pres- 

 ent time are only partially covered with 

 valuable species. Here as much more 

 money will have to be spent if the max- 

 imum yield of our forests is to be ob- 

 tained. 



A great deal of our forested area is in 

 a most inferior condition. It has largely 

 been cut over and even where the cover 

 is complete the trees left are of inferior 

 species or in a dead or dying condition, 

 and they are acting as a great hindrance 

 to the proper growth of the young and 

 more valuable trees. 



The density of the forest then has 

 been utterly destroyed in part and very 

 much lessened on a large portion of its 

 area. This has resulted in the total or 

 partial destruction of the forest floor ; 

 that is, the humus or vegetable mould 

 has been burned up, either by fire or by 

 the sun. Where the cover has entirely 

 disappeared erosion sets in, as there is 

 nothing left in the soil to bind it to- 

 gether. It slowly works down the 

 slopes of the hills and mountains to 

 eventually choke our rivers and harbors 

 or be spread out over our fertile valley 

 farms and cause total destruction. 



There has been enacted in this State 

 considerable forest fire legislation. In 

 the first place it has been attempted to 

 do away with the material which causes 

 the worst of forest fires, that is the 

 slash left by the lumbermen. Slash is 



of two kinds, hardwood and softwood 

 slash. The hardwood slash disappears 

 much more quickly than the softwood, 

 and this has not been covered by legis- 

 lation. The question has been with the 

 softwood or evergreen tree tops. 



Under ordinary conditions the top 

 left after the logs are cut is held up off 

 the ground by the lower branches and 

 during the fire season becomes dry as 

 tinder and constitutes a serious fire dan- 

 ger for from fifteen to twenty years. 

 Since 1909 loggers have been compelled 

 by law to lop or cut off the limbs from 

 all tops so that the refuse will all lie 

 close to the ground. This was done in 

 order to do away with the fire danger 

 as soon as possible, as the top will disap- 

 pear through decay much sooner if all 

 branches are lying on the ground than if 

 they are held up in the air. The reasons 

 for this are that the fungus causing de- 

 cay requires air and moisture for the 

 proper carrying on of its work. The 

 top when it is held up from the ground 

 has plenty of air, but moisture at the 

 proper time of year is lacking. On 

 the other hand, wood completely sub- 

 merged in water does not decay, as the 

 air is lacking. The conditions most fa- 

 vorable for the growth of rot exists at 

 the surface of the ground and if all 

 branches lie as close to the ground as 

 possible, they will disappear in the m i mi- 

 ni um time. The best proof that this 

 is so lies in the fact that our fence posts, 

 telegraph and telephone poles, etc., have 

 by far the greatest amount of decay at 

 the point where they enter the ground. 

 The least observing person knows that 

 this is true, and it is well brought out by 

 the fact that if any single part of a pole 

 is to be treated with preservative, it is 

 this point, and many companies imbed 

 their poles in concrete for a foot or so 

 at the surface of the ground. There 

 cannot be the slightest doubt then that 

 the tops will decay more quickly lopped 

 than unlopped. 



In cases where tops have been lopped, 

 the slash has disappeared, as a fire dan- 

 ger, in six to seven years. So far so 

 good. 



Let us first consider the management 

 of our spruce lands. These areas can 



