138 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



" abnormal " is restricted to those forests which show strik- 

 ing irregularities — e.g., a very sparse, patchy stocking, or a 

 marked excess of a single-age class. In the former case the 

 chief aim is to secure a good stand. In the latter case it is 

 sometimes possible, if the entire stand is mature or past maturity, 

 to cut it all ofY at once, invest the resulting capital, and let the 

 interest thereon take the place of the sustained timber yield. 



But ordinarily the timber owner needs timber rather than 

 money in order to supply his saw-mills, pulp-mills, etc. In 

 the case of the government it is obviously the correct political 

 economy to be able to supply without undue interruption the 

 necessary raw material to the timber-using industries dependent 

 on the national or state forests. Furthermore, it is usually to 

 the interest of the private owner to lumber conservatively and 

 to plan for a second cut rather than to slash and abandon. By 

 so doing he may, under favorable conditions, reasonably expect 

 a 5 or 6 per cent return upon his investment* and, if the short- 

 age of lumber becomes as great as is freely predicted, stumpage 

 values will increase prodigiously and profits proportionately. 



Assuming, therefore, that the abnormal forest of a single age 

 class is not to be exploited, but to be managed with a liberal 

 construction of sustained yield, the regulation is as follows: 



If the age is less than - only thinnings are possible. 



2 

 T 



If the age is more than - cutting is permissible, usually less 



2 



than the allowed annual cut up to the age of \r, usually more 

 than the allowed annual cut beyond the age of \r. 



The object is to replace the excess of slow-growing mature 

 and overmature stands by young, thrifty stands of rapid incre- 



* See " Possibilities of Private Forest Management in New York State," by 

 C. H. Guise, Cornell University, Bulletin 375. See also " The Cost of Growing 

 Timber in the Pacific Northwest." etc., by B. P. Kirkland, Seattle, Wash., 1915, 

 reprinted from the University of Washington, Forest Club Annual. See also 

 Chapman: " Forest Valuation," pp. 115-117, for excellent statements of the rela- 

 tive importance of profits in private versus public forestry. 



