6 PRACTICAL rOEESTBY. 



POina REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BEST SERVICE. 



A forest well managed under the methods of practical forestry will 

 yield a return in one of the ways just mentioned. There are, how- 

 ever, four things a forest must have before it can be in condition to 

 render the best service. 



The first of these is protection, especially against fire, overgrazing, 

 and thieves, for without such protection no investment is secure and the 

 most skillful management is of little effect. 



Fig. 3.— Vigorous reproduction along the edge of a forest. Germany. 



The second is strong and abundant reproduction. A forest without 

 young growth is like a family without children. It will speedily die 

 out. 



The third requirement is a regular supply of trees ripe for the ax. 

 This can be secured only by the right proportion of each of the smaller 

 sizes constantly coming on in the growing forest. Thus, a farmer in 

 need of fuel might be much inconvenienced to find no trees on his 

 woodlot big enough for cordwood, and it would not help him to know 

 that twenty years later he would have an oversupply. In the same 

 way a larger forest may yield only a very irregular and unsatisfactory 



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