32 GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF PLAN [ch. 



33. Degree of rigidity desirable. 



There is one point of general application that may be noted 

 here, and that is that a fair margin of detail should always be 

 left to the discretion of the local forester who has to carry out 

 the prescriptions of the plan, and who may be assumed to be 

 a fairly competent person. 



Cultural considerations should always be recognised as para- 

 mount, and must take priority over all rules. This is an important 

 principle, which must never be overlooked. For example, the 

 cultural requirements of a timber crop must never be sacrificed 

 for any paper calculations to regulate the yield, and no tree 

 should ever be felled — notwithstanding any working-plan rule — 

 if it is desirable for cultural reasons (such as shelter, or the 

 production of seed, etc.) to keep it standing. 



The local forester is in the best position to appreciate these 

 cultural necessities, and therefore the prescriptions of the 

 working-plan should never be so detailed, and so rigid, as to 

 allow the local operator no discretionary power at aU. Therefore, 

 while the general organisation of the forest and the annual plan 

 of operations are clearly and definitely laid down in the plan, 

 cultural details should be indicated in such a way that the 

 forester in charge will be at liberty to use his own judgment in 

 carrying them out. 



The terms employed in framing the prescriptions of the plan 

 should, however, be precise and imperative. Suggestions and 

 recommendations are generally out of place in a plan, because 

 what is required are binding orders. "At such a place, at such 

 a time, such and such an operation will be carried out." Then 

 no evasion, or deviation from the plan, is possible without special 

 permission from competent authority. The working of the forest 

 should be rigidly prescribed in explicit and uncompromising 

 terms, while at the same time a fair margin of detail should be 

 left to the discretion of the local forester. For example, suppose 

 that, in prescribing the number of standards per acre to be 

 reserved in a coppice, it is found that forty-five would be the 

 best number to keep, in such a case the rule would be worded as 

 follows: "Between forty and fifty standards will be reserved 

 per acre." The framer of the rules should remember to look at 



