METHODS OF FOREST POLICY. 229 



gain is apt to lead to its deterioration or eventual 

 destruction, especially in a country where popu- 

 lation is relatively small and unevenly distributed, 

 when only the best kinds and the best cuts can be 

 profitably marketed. Hence, since profit is the 

 object of private enterprise, exploitation must under 

 such conditions be by necessity wasteful. By the 

 removal of the useful kinds and of the <lesirable 

 individuals, leaving the ground to be occupied by 

 tree weeds and runts, the reproduction of the 

 desirable and useful is prevented, and since the 

 forest by changing its composition and quality is 

 deteriorated in value, the future is injured as far 

 as material interests are concerned. 



Since, with the removal of the marketable 

 timber, the interest of the individual in the forest is 

 gone, it is naturally neglected, and conflagrations 

 which follow the wasteful exploitation, with the 

 accumulated debris left in the woods, kill or 

 damage, not only the remaining old timber, but 

 more especially all the young growth. Even the 

 soil itself, often formed only by the mould from 

 the decay of leaves and litter accumulated through 

 centuries, is destroyed, and thus, not only the prac- 

 ticability, but the possibility, of restoration is frus- 

 trated. In many localities the consequences of 

 such destruction are felt in deterioration of climatic 

 conditions, and in uneven waterflow, floods and 

 droughts being exaggerated; in this way damage 

 is inflicted on portions of the community far 



