48 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



THIS SLOPE WAS FORMERLY WELL WOODED FOREST. IT WAS CUT OVPR AND RE- 

 VERTED TO CHAPARRAL. THE CHAPARRAL WAS LATER BURNED TO SUCH AN EX- 

 TENT THAT ITS VALUE AS A WATERSHED COVER HAS BEEN DESTROYED. 



the financial results ; the industries and 

 welfare of States and communities 

 must be considered where their indus- 

 tries depend upon a sustained stream 

 flow necessary for navigation or manu- 

 facture. 



FORESTRY PRACTICE. 



Granted the general principles of 

 forest influence, this Commission might 

 well enquire, "What does it cost to 

 practice forestry?" I can state at once 

 that to practice forestry on a rational 

 basis costs very little, and in some cases 

 may yield a considerable revenue. I do 

 not go to the extreme of claiming some 

 of the returns which you have seen 

 claimed by foresters, because one can- 

 not help but realize that an oak forest 

 for example which may take two cen- 

 turies or more to mature,. will not yield 

 more than 1 or 2 per cent under cer- 

 tain circumstances ; on the other hand, 

 forests of maritime pine, such as you 

 find in the Landes, or forests of silver 

 fir, such as occur in the Jura mountains 



of France, may yield a net revenue of 

 from four to eight per cent on the capi- 

 tal invested. This revenue is in addi- 

 tion to indirect benefits. 



NATURAL REGENERATION. 



But you might go further, and ask, 

 "After you have once secured your for- 

 ests, how can you regenerate them un- 

 der present conditions in the United 

 States, where even agricultural laborers 

 are difficult to secure?" The answer is 

 simple. Regenerate your forests nat- 

 urally, by practicing forestry. The 

 French secure their second crop of 

 maritime pine by merely cutting clear 

 and protecting from fire, and allowing 

 the seedlings to come up naturally. 

 The silver fir in the Jura is cut on what 

 is called the selection system, by the 

 removal of single trees or groups of 

 trees, and the voung growth is found 

 everywhere, without the slightest ex- 

 pense for planting or sowing. The 

 beech and oak in France are first 

 opened up to permit the young seed- 



