224 THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WORKING PLANS 



SECTION FOUR 



RESUME 



A review of the practice of working plans in Europe shows 

 that forest organization developed very differently in the 

 various countries. The differences consist in the form of 

 the working-plan document; in the length of the working 

 period; in the methods of estimating, forest description, map- 

 ping; in the principles and nomenclature of the divisions of area. 

 These differences arose primarily out of differences in the 

 forest conditions to which the methods of forest organization 

 were adapted; in part also because the various practices de- 

 veloped independently of one another. Many of the rules and 

 regulations for working plans remained practically unknown 

 outside of their immediate sphere of application. 



Despite these differences, the various existing methods of 

 forest organization are very similar in the essentials of working 

 plans. For all, the most important task is recognized to be the 

 designation of the areas which are to be reproduced. For this 

 the character and composition of the individual stands is 

 scrutinized. The more unfavorable the condition of the stands 

 is in regard to growth, density, etc., the more is their early 

 cutting indicated. At the same time, however, all the existing 

 methods demand that the stands are not to be considered by 

 themselves alone, but in conjunction with the whole area of 

 which they form a part and their treatment decided upon 

 accordingly. In general agreement are, furthermore, the 

 methods of determining the allowed cut. At first, regulation 

 was by volume alone, as fitted the irregular conditions encoun- 

 tered; as management progressed, area came to play a more 

 and more important part in regulation. Area and volume 

 combined are now the basis of regulation in all intensively 

 managed forests. In Prussia, Austria, Saxony, and other 

 countries, the criterion of yield is the normal periodic cutting 

 area wherever the conditions are sufficiently regular. This area 



