94 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XV. No. 368. 



this, provided the crop were properly re- 

 placed, there is no market for such sap- 

 lings. The story comes probably from the 

 observation that small brushwood of the 

 felled trees has been cut and bundled as 

 an experiment, to see whether it could not 

 be made useful. 



THOROUGH UTILIZATION. 



The lumberman, it is well known, cuts 

 and utilizes only the logs, and those of the 

 best trees and kinds, leaving a large part of 

 the trees he has felled on the ground as 

 debris, to feed the fires and prevent young 

 growth. The forester is forced, by the 

 mandates of his business, to utilize as 

 much as possible not only the poor trees, 

 but all that is in a tree; not only the logs 

 of the best, but of the weed trees as well, 

 and the cordwood and the brush, if he can ; 

 or else he may have to burn the brush 

 later. Thorough utilization, instead of the 

 wasteful one which the mere logger prac- 

 tices, distinguishes the forester's work. 

 Unfortunately, there is no market for this 

 inferior material, which a satisfactory silvi- 

 culture requires to have removed. The 

 College of Forestry is at least trying to 

 satisfy, as far as possible, this requirement. 



WHERE THE PROFITS GO. 



The charge that the logging operations 

 are carried on for the financial benefit of 

 Cornell University is even more puerile, 

 for, if there were any profits to be derived 

 from the sale of the crop, the State has 

 carefully guarded against having them ap- 

 plied for any other purpose than the one in 

 hand, namely, the running of this demon- 

 stration or experiment station and the re- 

 placement of the crop. It is absolutely im- 

 possible for Cornell University to make any 

 profits from the College Forest, since all 

 returns are at once turned over to the 

 State Treasurer for the purpose aforesaid. 

 As a matter of fact, the finances of the 

 college experiment station are not such as 



to make anyone who knows them envious. 

 Much more work in planting and improve- 

 ment generally would have been done if 

 finances permitted; that is, if the State 

 had appropriated a more liberal working 

 fund, such as had been asked for. Any 

 business man knows that a certain work- 

 ing capital is required to carry on a given 

 business; if this is below a certain figure, 

 the business can only be carried on in a 

 lame way and at a disadvantage. 



INSUFFICIENT FUNDS. 



This is the condition of the College 

 Forest management; it is trying with an 

 insufficient capital to earn what is neces- 

 sary to pay for the administration and the 

 improvements, including planting. A lum- 

 berman, logging these hardwoods, would 

 find it difficult to make a satisfactory mar- 

 gin; a forester, who is obliged to log with 

 more care and to replace the crop he has 

 cut, necessarily works under greater finan- 

 cial disadvantages, and, so far, it has only 

 been possible with great economy and care 

 of the fiLaances to secure any margin which 

 can be applied to the forestry work. 



The wise policy for the State, if it wished 

 this experiment in forest management 

 properly carried on, would have been either 

 to make provision for annual appropria- 

 tions for its conduct or to provide a suffi- 

 cient working fund on which to run the 

 experiment as a business. In my last 

 annual report I stated that the modest 

 fund of $50,00.0 was asked, but only $30,- 

 000 was allowed, which would hardly suffice 

 to carry on a logging operation. To place 

 the experiment on a proper basis, to per- 

 mit the development of means of transpor- 

 tation from all parts of the property, 

 which alone would make possible the 

 method of gradual removal and reproduc- 

 tion by natural means, a working capital 

 of not less than $150,000 should be placed 

 at the disposal of the management. 



