84 FOREST REGULATION 



readily lead to devastation and ruin, and the ownership will change. 

 The desire of the owner is also limited by market. The owner may 

 desire to cut Lodgepole at sixty years of age, but if it takes 150 

 years to get a railway tie, and ties are the smallest stuff his market 

 can take, the desire of the owner is of little consequence. 



c. In the United States at the present time woods are held in a 

 great variety of ownership and conditions of market, transportation, 

 etc., so that the immediate object of holding timber at present 

 varies from that of the small lumberman who buys stumpage for 

 immediate cutting to that of the National Government in its per- 

 manent policy with regard to large holdings in National Forests. 

 In the one case there is no thought of forestry, not even protection, 

 the forest is merely a mass of logs on the stump; in the other it is 

 modern forestry, good protection and well planned utilization and 

 silviculture. 



In the former case no plan is made, none wanted ; in the latter 

 case we find great activity in perfecting knowledge concerning the 

 forest, constant planning and a prompt adaptation and modification 

 to meet new requirements and to use new information. Numerous 

 intermediate cases or conditions exist, and for that reason we make 

 and will make for many years to come, a variety of Working 

 Plans, which will differ as to completeness and emphasis. Some of 

 these will be little more than Plans of Protection (chiefly against 

 fire), others will lay stress on utilization, while still others will 

 introduce improvements and the beginnings of Silviculture. 



The following cases of ownership affecting present objects of 

 holding timber appear of interest in the United States now : 



1. Woodlot of the farm. If this is permanent at all, the 

 object is to produce a home supply of fuel and other timber. In 

 New England and the South, larger woodlots produce for general 

 market and approach regular forests. Usually land is relatively 

 good, market and convenience of getting out material are of the 

 best, and there should be a good return from the soil. A plan for 

 the most intensive form of forestry is justified for this class of 

 important forest lands. 



2. Forests of the Lumberman Owner: vary from those of 

 the small owner of stumpage to be cut at once, to the holdings of 



