169 



THE FOUNDATIONS OF FOREST 

 MANAGEMENT. 



Forest working plans regulate, according to time and locality, 

 the management of forests in such a manner, that the objects 

 of the industry are as fully as possible realised. As the latter 

 differ widely, it follows that working plans cannot be drawn 

 up according to any uniform pattern. The working plan for a 

 protection forest, or a park-like forest, is altogether different 

 from that of a forest, which is managed on economic principles. 

 In this volume only forests of the latter class will be considered, 

 that is to say, it wdll be explained, how forests should be 

 managed so as to produce the best financial results, or the 

 greatest volume, or the most suitable class of produce. 



The yield (or the return) of a forest consists of major, or 

 principal, and minor produce. By the former, timber, fire- 

 wood and bark are understood. It is in the nature of things, 

 that forests should yield chiefly such articles ; at the same 

 time, articles of minor produce (such as turpentine, fodder, 

 grazing, fruits, caoutchouc, etc.) are frequently of considerable 

 importance, and demand modifications of that management, 

 which would be indicated by considering only the realisation of 

 major produce. 



Major produce is derived from the final and intermediate 

 jdelds. The latter comprise the thinnings and other cuttings, 

 which are made from time to time during the course of the 

 life of a wood, while the former is the return yielded by the 

 final cutting of the wood, to be followed by a new crop, whether 

 the old crop is removed in one cutting or by a number of 

 successive cuttings, as in the case of natural regeneration 

 under a shelter wood. 



