OCTOBKE 14, 1898.] 



SCIENCE. 



499 



venient administration. The subdivisions, 

 based on topography, difference of soil, 

 forest conditions and other business and sil- 

 vicultural considerations, may or may not 

 at first be permanently designated in the 

 forest, but finally they will be so fixed, not 

 only on the map, but on the ground, and, 

 possibly, by opening lanes between the 

 compartments, which are preferably so lo- 

 cated that they can be used as roads. In 

 the end, the ideal organized, managed for- 

 est will look not unlike a city with streets, 

 making every part of the property readily 

 accessible. In practice this ideal may never 

 be quite attained and temporary means of 

 transportation, like rope-ways, movable 

 railways, log-slides, etc., may be substituted 

 for the roadways, where more practicable, 

 just as elevators supplant the stairs in the 

 apartment and business house. 



While this more or less geometrical and 

 arithmetical basis for management is laid 

 and partly, as a result of these data, col- 

 lected, the general policy of management 

 is determined upon and finally its progress 

 is regulated by working plans, for a more 

 distant future in general and for the nearest 

 future in detail. 



The manner in which this forest regula- 

 tion proceeds may be as follows : 



We have to- deal in the Adirondacks with 

 a mixed forest of hardwoods, birch, maple 

 and beech, in which spruce forms a promi- 

 nent admixture, sometimes at high eleva- 

 tions, the latter occupying the ground 

 almost exclusively ; and of other useful 

 species, not merely weeds, white pine, fir, 

 cedar and aspen occur more or less scat- 

 tered or in groups. 



We come to the conclusion that, all points 

 considered, the spruce in these mountains 

 is the most valuable timber, with the other 

 conifers desirable concomitants, the hard- 

 woods, although now in preponderance, be- 

 ing less readily marketable ; and we also 

 consider that this relative value of the 



species will continue for the future, since 

 the iise of the spruce for paper pulp, with 

 few desirable substitutes known, promises 

 continued market for even the inferior 

 material. 



Hence we formulate our silvicultural 

 policy : The management is to be based for 

 spruce. It is to be the endeavor to change 

 from the present condition of hardwoods 

 with an admixture of spruce to spruce with 

 an admixture of hardwoods, the admixture 

 being considered desirable for various 

 reasons, among which specially counts the 

 danger to which the shallow-rooted spruce 

 is exposed from winds, which is alleviated 

 by association with other species. 



To carry out this policy it is evident the 

 hardwoods must be numerically reduced, 

 the conditions for the reproduction of spruce 

 made favorable and the young growth of 

 spruce favored by subduing its competitors 

 —operations which require the highest skill 

 of the silviculturist. 



At the same time the administrator's 

 care is to secure a market for the hardwoods 

 and the means of transporting the same 

 cheaply enough to at least pay for their re- 

 moval. In this respect it is not enough to 

 sit still and wait for the consumer to come, 

 but active canvass and perhaps reform in 

 the methods of the market and the utiliza- 

 tion of the product may be necessary. 

 There are as wasteful methods still to be 

 found in the market and the manufacture 

 of wood materials as in the exploitation in 

 the forest, and reform in the latter direc- 

 tion depends largely on reform in the for- 

 mer. A study of the market, therefore, of 

 its requirements and possibilities of change 

 is most essential for the successful forest 

 manager. 



A further formulation of silvicultural 

 policy is as to the kind or system of man- 

 agement under which the reproduction is 

 to be secured. There are two general classes 

 possible. Cutting away the old growth and 



