142 OUR VANISHING FORESTS 



often left for over a century. As different sections 

 of the forest reach the desired age the exploitation 

 begins. Wood may be sold as it stands upon the 

 stump, or the town may itself carry on the logging 

 operations and dispose of the product. A consid- 

 erable amount of pine on the Petersham poor farm 

 already mentioned was sold to a lumberman who 

 took out the trees and disposed of the waste ac- 

 cording to prescribed methods. It is an advantage, 

 however, to have the forest more or less uneven in 

 age, as if it is not all cut at the same time, the bared 

 spots will re-seed themselves from the surrounding 

 trees. 



The success of the town forest idea in America 

 depends upon a wide extension of the plan. To 

 obtain the maximum profit a well developed market 

 for thinnings and by-products is essential, and one 

 single isolated community can never succeed as well 

 as it could If its neighbors followed the same policy. 

 If the farmers between the towns meanwhile care 

 for and develop their wood-lots, so much the better 

 for all concerned. On the other hand, it is a fallacy 

 for any community to wait for its neighbor to start. 

 The first good lumber harvested in a region where 

 tree-growing is litde practised, will sell in competi- 

 tion only with lumber coming from the far away 

 Pacific Coast — lumber which bears a freight charge 



