62 FOREST RliGUI.ATIOX 



is no time limit at all, in others it is a long time contract without 

 limitation as to area, so that the man can return to the same lands 

 and cut over the same tracts repeatedly according to changes in 

 market. The effect of such conditions is evident ; and all rational, 

 systematic treatment of the woods is impossible unless the contract 

 is removed by purchase, or is modified b}- agreement and compensa- 

 tion. The statement should point out clearly what the contract is, 

 its history to date, injury to the forest at present, interference with 

 the management in future, and suggestion as to its removal. 



e. General Topography or Lay of Land and Drainage 

 of the District. 



.As it affects transportation, agricultural and other development 

 and thereby future market, labor, and protection and the value of 

 the property itself. This is generally not subject of personal in- 

 spection but is matter of maps and inquiry. Important here : 

 General altitude as it affects climate, agriculture, etc., best stated 

 in per cent of total as : over 60% above 6,oao alt., etc. ; topography, 

 i. e., what per cent is steep lands, mountain slopes, not fit for farm- 

 ing ; streams draining the dictrict, their value for driving timber, 

 for water power, in some cases, for ordinary navigation ; the stream 

 valleys as natural lines of travel and railway construction. Swamp 

 areas, areas of waste land and possibility or likelihood of reclama- 

 tion. This means a brief statement of the great permanent condi- 

 tions of the district v/hich must always affect its development and 

 are of importance to the particular property determining its value 

 as a business. 



f. The Climate. 



Next to soil, and in many cases far more than soil, is the most 

 important part of Site; it determines Species, it affects reproduc- 

 tion, growth, final size, and quality of timber. It also affects 

 protection and exploitation or utilization and income and value of 

 property. 



T. Warm climate and long growing season produce a Loblolly 

 Pine 24" diameter at forty years in Georgia ; while a cold climate 

 produces a 14" Spruce at 150 years in the .A.dirondacks on better 

 soil. The dry spring following the snow melt in the Lake Region 

 and Ontario means a regular spring fire season : moist and even 



