112 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



crop, and must allow nature and time to mature 

 it; while the farmer is constantly busy during 

 the progress of his annual crop, cultivating it to 

 secure best results ; annually, ploughing and sow- 

 ing recur ; or, if he apply himself to pasturing, his 

 attendance upon the cattle is incessant, his busi- 

 ness is "labor-intensive." The forester's crop 

 grows mostly unattended ; only when harvest time 

 comes is he busy ; and since, as we will see farther 

 on, he may reproduce his crop without direct labor 

 by the mere manner of harvesting the old crop, 

 even seeding time may not call for much effort; 

 his business is " labor-extensive." And since most 

 of his work comes during the late fall and winter, 

 and ceases during the growing season, he cannot 

 offer continuous employment for many workmen, 

 and must rely largely upon an unstable crew, as 

 does the lumberman. On the other hand, much 

 of his work, although dependent on the season, 

 is not limited so closely as regards the time of its 

 performance as is the farmer's, and it is possible 

 to concentrate or lengthen out the work more or 

 less, as desirable. The fact that most of the forest 

 work falls into the winter time, when farm labor is 

 idle, is of the utmost economic value where a dense, 

 poor population must find continuous employment 

 through the year. 



If we compare these conditions in a country 

 where both agriculture and forestry are most highly 

 developed, as in Germany, we will find that agricul- 



