Xiv INTRODUCTION 



Since the prime object of any forest is the growing of timber, 

 the silvicultural management is the most important; it is also 

 the most difficult. The present work will, therefore, confine 

 itself to this phase. 



SPHERE OF WORKING PLANS 



The working plan is not confined to such forests as are 

 managed with the idea of a sustained yield,* but is equally 

 adapted to the exploitation forest; i.e., forests which are to be 

 logged within the next ten or twenty years. As in every other 

 business the advantages of systematization are obvious; the 

 working plan secures these advantages. At the same time it 

 is usually to the interest of the owner to leave the tract in as 

 favorable a condition as possible for future growth without 

 the undue expenditure of time, timber, or money. The working 

 plan secures this by so organizing the logging operations that 

 the natural reproductive powers of the forest are brought into 

 full play instead of being nullified by the fortuities of hap- 

 hazard and often unnecessarily destructive logging. 



The sphere of forest organization therefore embraces all 

 forests and is appHcable to all classes of owners, large and 

 small. 



* Sustained yield: the yield or cut of timber from a forest which is managed 

 in such a way as to permit the continuous removal of an approximately equal 

 volxune of timber annually or periodically (equal to the increment). 



