United States National Forests 77 



out crushing and mutilating the little trees growing 

 among the large ones. And it takes many years 

 to change a wild forest into one after the German 

 plan, yielding successive crops which, like the oats 

 in a farmer's field, stand and fall together. 



The science of forest-crop production is called 

 " silviculture." 



There are what are called weed trees, which 

 provide shade, but do little else for their country, 

 and are almost worthless as lumber. In the na- 

 tional forests there is a constant effort to get rid, 

 by degrees, of these comparatively worthless trees. 

 As they die, or are cut down, they are replaced 

 by valuable timber. So, in time, we may rival 

 the thrifty silviculture of little Wiirttemburg, 

 where the state forests return annually to their 

 government treasury as much as all our national 

 forests return to ours. 



Some of the wood from our national forests 

 is free to the people. Officers in charge of a 

 forest may give timber to settlers, farmers, or 

 prospectors, provided they will promise to use it 

 themselves, and not to sell it. 



The needs of the people near the forest are 

 considered before its timber is sent away to be 

 sold in more distant places. The neighborhood 

 gets the first chance. The money raised by the 

 sale of timber from the national forests, and the 

 money paid in by cattlemen for the use of the 

 range, becomes part of the income of Uncle Sam. 



