262 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 489. 



is a significant fact that this bill was introduced into the 

 House of Representatives by an active lumberman, and was 

 supported by others who have made fortunes in the same 

 industry. The Governor of the state, who has showed 

 before this that he is alive to the necessity of forestry 

 reform, signed the bill with promptness and has expressed 

 himself as desirous to be an active promoter of the scheme 

 which the law makes possible. 



Another act of equal importance, perhaps, encourages 

 private owners to preserve their growing forests by 

 remitting taxes on such property. The law provides that 

 in consideration of the public benefit to be derived from 

 the retention of timber-trees, the owners of land which 

 carries not less than fifty trees to the acre, each tree 

 being at least eight inches in diameter at a height of six 

 feet above the ground, shall be entitled to receive annually, 

 so long as these trees are maintained in sound condition, 

 a remission of four-fifths of the taxes assessed on such 

 land. Besides these, there are other laws for the suppres- 

 sion of forest fires and for the protection of timber land 

 from depredation, which are not only good in themselves, 

 but which are particularly significant as indicating the 

 temper of mind which has made such legislation possible. 



This action of the Pennsylvania Legislature is certainly 

 most encouraging. It means that the people of that state 

 have learned a good deal in the last ten years on this sub- 

 ject, and the fact that there are now in both houses of the 

 Legislature standing committees on forestry, shows that 

 the will of the people is making ready to express itself in 

 law. It has not been in vain that such an officer as the 

 Commissioner of Forestry was appointed and that a report 

 on the condition of the woodlands of the state has been 

 published and disseminated. This means education, and 

 it is more than gratifying to know that the Legislature has 

 provided for publishing 17,000 copies of this instructive 

 report to replace those which were lost in the fire which 

 ruined the state capitol. The state has begun to frame 

 good laws for the protection, the preservation and the en- 

 largement of its forests. The educational work should be 

 kept up with vigor until an intelligent public sentiment is 

 developed which will enforce all these acts up to the full 

 spirit which inspired them. 



Private Forestry and State Forestry. — IV. 



IT is apparent that any state action in the direction of 

 forestry will cost money. But the investment is sure to 

 be profitable, partly through the influence of forestry on 

 climate, water-supply, etc., partly by the annual growth of 

 timber on the state lands.* I would not advise, in general, 

 any haste in harvesting tree-growth from the state forests. 

 The reason lies in the condition of the lumber industry. 

 This great branch of the national resources must be pre- 

 served. That industry is now taking the timber from 

 private lands. Opening such parts of state forests as are 

 well timbered to axe and saw would tend to reduce the 

 value of the stumpage of trees, and the destruction of for- 

 ests would be accelerated. State forests as well as private 

 would become bare of high-grade timber trees after the 

 lapse of a few decades. But it goes without saying that a 

 small part of the state forests might safely be put under 

 economic forest management at an early date in order to 

 gather experience. 



The golden rule of state forestry at this time is, "Be 

 quick in securing forests, firm in protecting and slow in 

 using them." 



Economic forest management cannot be established at a 

 trifling expense. f Apart from the outlay for forests and 



foresters, a large sum must be spent for the creation of more 

 permanent means of transport, such as wagon roads, pole 

 roads, tramways, flumes, cable roads, etc. There is one 

 method of transportation, however, that should not be 

 adopted, namely, that of driving logs down to the floatable 

 rivers by means of splash dams. Clearing the creeks for 

 a splash means doing away with any obstacles or obstruc- 

 tions to the watercourse. For obvious reasons this should 

 be avoided under state forest management. Any clearing 

 of creeks accelerates the collection and downflow of pre- 

 cipitations. Such forestry, instead of preventing floods, 

 would facilitate them ; instead of regulating the water-sup- 

 ply it would endanger its regularity. 



Another outlay to be incurred before economic forest 

 management can begin is for a working plan. A working 

 plan is a report consisting of two parts. The first part is a 

 description, based on a topographical map of the growing 

 stock, its productiveness, the existing and the possible 

 means of transport, the most economical use to be made of 

 the products, and the possible methods of regeneration. The 

 second part is a plan of future operations, so arranged as 

 to apportion the expenses and revenues over a series of 

 years. It indicates what parts of the forest are to be cut 

 over first; what parts, if any, are to be improved; what 

 parts, if any, are to be replanted ; what roads, etc., are first 

 to be made. This work is not as inexpensive as might 

 appear at a first glance, especially in a country in which 

 forestry is entirely new. Mistakes at starting are unavoid- 

 able, but their number and importance can be lessened by 

 laying down a well-considered working plan, and the 

 larger the total area the smaller will be the expenditure per 

 acre. A network of footpaths must be traced out as an aid 

 to the work of protection, and, where necessary, occasional 

 strips should be kept free of combustible matter. Of course, 

 under favorable conditions, the expenditure for establishing 

 economic forest management will be small. Where there 

 are railroads or rivers running through the heart of the dis- 

 trict, where timber can be hauled to the railroad or river on 

 sledges, where there is a road system, where there are 

 maps of sufficient accuracy, where there is a tolerably 

 uniform growth of timber, it is easy to establish economic 

 forestry. Beware, however, of plunging into forest work; 

 in forestry, mistakes once made can only be corrected, if 

 ever, after the lapse of a tree's life. 



There is no need of stating that forest management can 

 scarcely be expected to furnish an immediate revenue in dis- 

 tricts where lumbering does not pay. Even in such districts, 

 however, there is some return from forest protection ; it is 

 dormant, latent, it is not in available cash, it is added to the 

 original stock of capital without any possibility of separa- 

 tion from it. The return consists in the improved quality 

 and increasing value of the growing stock and of the soil. 

 In a country in which the value of stumpage is rising 

 rapidly, forest preservation is sure to pay.* 



I am not sure that I have expressed my convictions in 

 the forest question with sufficient clearness, and should 

 like to summarize the principal points : 



State forestry must come into play where districts admin- 

 istered solely with a view to the highest money return have 

 ceased to act as a "barrier against losses." 



Private forestry t in this country can be made remunera- 

 tive, and therefore feasible, under a certain set of circum- 

 stances (a reduction of taxes on second growth and a pro- 

 tection against fire by state guards), the creation of which 

 is the duty of the Government. 



Biltmore, N. C. 



C. A. Schenck. 



* The forest guards acting as fish and game keepers at the same time, in many 

 cases considerable revenue can be derived from fishing and hunting leases. The 

 leases should run for a score of years and should comprise one or two ranges each. 

 Their wording should be such as would warrant the maintenance of a suitable stock 

 of both game and fish, under the control of the rangers. There are plenty of sports- 

 men in the United States who will gladly pay as much money for the exclusive right 

 of fishing and hunting on a reserved range as the annual salary of the ranger 

 amounts to. 

 t Report of the United States Division of Forestry, 1892, page 314. 



* Report of the United States Division of Forestry, 1892, page 307. 



t There is a peculiar kind of private forestry already in existence hereand there, 

 which might be called park forestry. Park forestry, for landscape purposes, or 

 for the sake of game preservation, voluntarily sacrifices a more or less considera- 

 ble share of the money return attainable under exclusive economic forest manage- 

 ment. It allows some trees to stand that ought to be felled and sold, and that 

 merely because they are picturesque or because they bear seed which affords food 

 to the game. Park forestry builds roads, not merely to facilitate the transport of 

 forest products, but also to furnish pleasant drives and rides. It goes to the 

 expense of planting varieties of trees in places where regeneration from self-sown 

 seed would cover the ground in the course of time. It further allows the deer to 

 nibble off the young shoots of trees. Such management is forestry because its 

 main object is the forest. But it is not economic, financial forestry. 



