250 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



own superintendent; but in some provinces the govern- 

 ment generally manages to have laws passed that will 

 make it most convenient for municipalities to employ 

 the government superintendent. In the case of munici- 

 pal forests the governments generally allow the cutting 

 of only the increase each year. If this matter was left 

 entirely to the will of the people, thej^ would frequently 

 sacrifice the future for present gains. This supervision 

 may be likened very much to that which is exercised in 

 many States in preventing cities and towns from acquir- 

 ing an indebtedness beyond a certain percentage of their 

 taxable valuation. However, in case there is a pressing 

 need for some public improvement, as for instance a 

 schoolhouse, the government ma}^ allow extra cuttings 

 for this special purpose, but in after years the annual 

 cuttings must be lessened until the capital growing stock 

 of wood on the land is made good. 



Forest Reservations and National Parks. Many of 

 the forest reservations in this country are in need of 

 immediate attention. ^luch of the virgin timber on them 

 has passed its prime and is decaying, and the constant 

 liability to forest fires makes the young growth very 

 unsafe. The increased demand for timber and the high 

 price for the same has encouraged lumbermen in trying 

 to have the timber on such reservations thrown onto the 

 market. When cut in the ordinary manner, there is 

 practically nothing left, and the end of the tree growth 

 is reached. If this were to be managed in a proper way, 

 the mature trees would be cut as soon as there was a 

 demand for lumber, and those trees should be left which 

 are still growing thriftily. In some cases, there is talk 

 of utihzing some of these reservations as national parks, 

 and in America too often the park idea means simply a 

 piece of land from which nothing is removed. The best 

 plan for managing these large tracts of timber would 



