256 PRINCIPLES OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 



rents out at 50 cents per acre, and on which 10 cents taxes 



are annually due, is worth —tttt^ = 800 cents per acre. 



A forest which jdelds, on the average, annually 200 



feet, board measure, per acre, worth 30 cents — these 200 



feet are obtained by shaving off always the oldest and 



largest trees — and on which 5 cents taxes are annually 



30—5 

 due, is worth =500 cents per acre. 



O.Uo 



In other words, at an extra expense of 30 cents in our 

 logging operations, and by lea^^ng 1,000 feet, board meas- 

 ure, of thrifty timber on the ground in the first campaign, 

 we have formed a forest worth $5.00 per acre, and on these 

 $5.00 we shall annually make 25 cents revenue. Such 

 must be the outcome as sure as the s\m will shine and as 

 sure as the rain will fall, for sunshine and rainfall — to 

 Tepeat it — are the components of timber production. Men 

 need not move a finger. Nature does not require any 

 help. 



FOREST FIRES. 



Nature requires something else, and requires it badly: 



Protection from destruction by fires. In most sections 



of the United States the forestry problem is identical 



with the forest fire problem. As long as a second growth 



is exposed to fires of annihilating fierceness, there is no 



use of talking about forestry, there is no sense of leaving 



a stick of merchantable timber on the ground during the 



lumbering campaign. As the State does not protect our 



young forests from fire, we have to do it ourselves. The 



expense for protection will considerably curtail our future 



returns and the value of our forest. Supposing that 



protection costs us 10 cents per acre per annum, our forest 



^, , 30-5-10 _„ , 



IS w^orth only — —7— = 300 cents per acre. 



0.05 



