498 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VIII. No. 198. 



tion area of 30,000 acres has been set aside 

 in the Adirondacks, which will in time 

 supply the deficiency — sooner in some di- 

 rections, later in others, since results in 

 forest management are as slow to accom- 

 plish as the slowness of the crop would lead 

 us to expect. 



Since, however, the conditions in the 

 Adirondacks are special, not only on ac- 

 count of the topography and climate, but 

 because of the few species of timber trees 

 involved, this one demonstration area can- 

 not suffice, and in order to get variety of 

 conditions other areas will have to be 

 secured. 



This does not necessarily imply purchase 

 of such areas by the State ; it will be possi- 

 ble by and by to secure the cooperation of 

 private timber-land owners, who may per- 

 mit the College to prepare working plans 

 for their lands and may be willing to apply 

 forestry principles in their management, 

 first, in that generous spirit by which all 

 our educational movements are supported, 

 and finally because of the financial benefits 

 they may derive from it. 



There are now some such attempts at 

 forest management to be found in various 

 parts of the country which may be visited 

 by the students during excursions in vaca- 

 tion time. Finally, a visit to the European 

 forests under management will be found 

 profitable to students at the end of their 

 studies, and with full theoretical knowledge 

 to guide them even a brief visit will be full 

 of interest and educational value. 



The demonstration in the Adirondacks, 

 as far as forest regulation and administra- 

 tion is concerned, may be made to form a 

 pattern for almost any other region ; as far 

 as silvieidtural methods are concerned, its 

 teachings will be applicable not only to the 

 entire Adirondacks, but to a large part of 

 the New England forest areas, in which 

 spruce is or has been the principal timber 

 tree. 



It may be interesting and useful for a 

 fuller conception of what is involved in forest 

 management to point out briefly what the 

 policy and modus operandi to be pursued in 

 the college forest is to be. 



The leading thought in the management 

 of a forest property is permanency, for it con- 

 templates the devotion of the soil to the 

 continued production of a crop, which it 

 takes a century, more or less, to mature. 

 Hence all plans and all operations must 

 take into consideration a long future and 

 all preparations must be made, as for a 

 stable, permanent conduct of a business, 

 unlike those of the lumberman, who ex- 

 ploits the forest only as a speculation, who 

 is not in the business of forest or wood pro- 

 duction, but is a mere harvester, the differ- 

 ence being similar to that between the 

 breeder of cattle and the butcher. 



The first business of the forester, then, is 

 to become thoroughly acquainted with all 

 the details of his property. He must study 

 its topography, with special reference to the 

 possibilities of making every part accessible 

 to market at any time for its various prod- 

 ucts. He must know its soil conditions to 

 judge of the vai'iable productiveness of each 

 acre ; its forest conditions, to give an in- 

 sight as to the kind of operations required 

 in each part, in order that the forest may 

 be brought into most productive condition ; 

 its contents of merchantable material and 

 rate of growth to determine the amount of 

 annual harvest, which a conservative man- 

 agement will permit. This forest survey is 

 made in connection with or preferably on 

 the basis of a topographical survey. 



JSText comes the task of preparing the 

 property for an orderly and systematic 

 business conduct by dividing it into sub- 

 divisions or compartments of smaller or 

 larger area, business units, which may be 

 designated by letters or numbers, just as 

 the blocks and houses in a city or the 

 rooms in a hotel are numbered for con- 



