CHAPTER III. 



FOREST EXPJLOITATION. 



While much is being done to secure the conservation of 

 existing forests, and the replanting of trees on landsfrom 

 which forests have been cleared, and others where this 

 can be done with economic benefit, attention has again 

 and again been given to the waste accompanying the 

 exploitation of forests under successive modes of conduct- 

 ing this, and endeavours have been made to secure the 

 good without the accompanying preventable evil, with the 

 result that there has been developed from one exploitation 

 which might be considered as almost absolute loss, an 

 exploitation which secures simultaneously a sustained pro- 

 duction' of wood, a progressive improvement of the forest, 

 and a natural reproduction of it from self-sown seeds. 



Section A.— Saetage 



While man is yet a dweller in woods, living on fruits 

 and roots, and the bodies of animals caught or killed by 

 him, as be^t he may, he begins to increase his store of food 

 by the culture of plants by which food is yielded. For the 

 growth of this a portion of the forest must be cleared of 

 shrubs and trees. And we find this being done in many 

 places by men in the state of civilisation to which I have 

 referred. 



In many places in which axes might be had trees are still 

 brought down by kindling a fire around the lower portion 

 of the trunk ; and among people who have not made much 

 progress in developing the capabilities of the land, a por- 

 tion of forest is cleared by a fire confined to the spot which 

 is desired for cultivation ; and one or two or more succes- 



