92 TREE PLANTER'S MANUAL. 



French Broad River in the western part of that state, its configuration, its 

 geological deposits, its meteorological peculiarities, its natural species of 

 trees, its injured forest condition arising from haphazard cutting of the 

 better trees, frequent fires and the browsing of cattle. Mr. Pinchot says 

 that "at the time when the forest management was t begun on the estate, 

 the condition of a large part of the forest was deplo ible in the extreme." 



FIRST YEAR'S PROFIT. 



By cutting such trees as was necessary to begin the improvement, amid 

 the widespread chaos, and selling the same for lumber, cord-wood and 

 railroad ties, there was realized a balance, net, of $392.40, first year. It is 

 presumptive that with judicious and economic management, the profits 

 will augment from year to year, and instead of raiding the forest for money 

 considerations, it is fitting it to be a profit investment for all the years to 

 come. 



ARBORETUM DRIVE. 



A nursery has been established on the estate, already containing more 

 kinds of trees and shrubs than there are in the botanical gardens at Kew, 

 near London, and the number is being steadily increased. It is the inten- 

 tion to plant these along the line of a road to be called the "Arboretum 

 Drive." This road, about five miles in length, will run through some of 

 the most beautiful portions of the estate, and will be lined for a hundred 

 feet on either side by the plants of the collections, making this arboretum 

 the finest in existence. 



IMPROVEMENT CUTTINGS. 



The reader will note with what prudence Mr. Pinchot proceeds in the 

 start. He found the "old spreading trees were seriously injuring the young 

 growth below them, and it was impossible to found a system of management 

 on the lives of the older specimens, which, in very many cases, were 

 already perishing. It became necessary, therefore, to institute a series of 

 improvement cuttings which should remove these older trees, and prepare 

 the way for a working plan under the Regular High Forest System, the 

 characteristic of which is that the trees of the same age are grouped to- 

 gether, so that there are (theoretically) as many separate groups as there 

 are years in the age of the oldest trees." 



LIMITATIONS OP CUT. 



He found two limitations imposed themselves at once. "No older trees 

 could be cut where the young crop was very far from being dense enough 

 to protect the soil, and no cuttings could be made which would cost more 

 than the value of the product. The term of six years was tentatively set 

 for carrying out these cuttings and the inaugurating of the working plan. 

 It was almost impossible to set a shorter period, for the reason that in many 

 cases all the old trees could not be cut at once, on account of damage to the 

 future crop; and for the same reason not less than five years must intervene 

 between the first and second cuttings on the same ground." 



