54 BULLETIN" 272., U. £. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



AIM AND METHOD OF FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



Forest management is not nearly so well understood as farm 

 management, although, the object of each is the same; namely, to 

 secure the highest financial returns from the class of land involved. 

 With the cutting of the virgin stands, timberlands become available 

 for further productive use for the purpose to which they are best 

 adapted from a financial standpoint. Many tracts of forest, par- 

 ticularly in the Northeastern States, are bing handled with a view of 

 securing the largest continuous yield of timber of the most valuable 

 species. This is the aim of forest management. 



To cut the mature timber in such a manner as to secure its fullest 

 utilization, and, following logging, to obtain complete stands of young 

 seedlings as the basis for the next crop, are the chief objects to be 

 attained by properly handling forests. In places where natural 

 reproduction fails, the stand may be filled out by sowing seed or 

 planting seedlings raised in nursery beds. Protection of the growing 

 trees against various forms of injury and further assistance of the 

 trees in their growth by proper thinning are important steps in- 

 attaining the desired end. 



Forest management of cypress deals with the proper handling of 

 present supplies rather than with the extension of the species on a 

 general scale. For various reasons cypress does not promise to be 

 one of the main contributors of the country's future timber supply. 

 Forest management of cypress in the future will consist chiefly of (1) 

 the conservative cutting and close utilization in logging of the pres- 

 ent virgin stand, (2) in many cases the retention and protection of 

 the younger growing timber, and (3) manufacturing so as to secure 

 the largest production of the best grades. 



PROFITABLENESS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT. 



In logging virgin cypress timber, the question inevitably arises 

 whether it is profitable to leave the younger portions of the stand 

 for a second cut. For example, if a cypress stand cut clean at the 

 present time will yield $10,000 net profit, will it pay the owner to 

 take four-fifths of the merchantable timber at the present time, con- 

 sisting of the larger classes and yielding a net profit of $9,000, and 

 postpone the returns on $1,000 * until the time of a second cut? 



In favor of holding a portion of the timber for the second cut are 

 the following: The increased local demand for timber resulting from 

 the establishment of new industries in the South, the faster growth 

 of the timber left standing from the first cutting, and the excessive cost 

 of clearing and draining deep swamp land covered with stumps and 

 roots. Under these conditions it will undoubtedly in many instances be 

 good business to leave cypress trees below a specified diameter limit, 



1 Small sizes are expensive to log and yield little if any net profit. 



