AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY OF AMERICAN FORESTRY. 43 
An important aspect of the American method is that it is but a very 
short step from planning and regulating a logging enterprise to actually 
managing it. I think that within ten years the United States of America 
Forest: Service will have taken that step, and that a possible development 
should not be lost sight of in our own forestry plan. 
For each forest minimum selling prices are prescribed, which represent 
approximately “the point at which it is believed wise public policy to with- 
hold timber from sale rather than to sell it at the market value then obtain- 
able.” Such minimums, however, do not apply to dead, fire-damaged, insect- 
infested, or badly diseased timber, which is sold as soon as possible and at 
rates which will induce its removal before serious deterioration or spread 
of the damage to other timber occurs. These minimums are fixed by the 
district forester. 
Similarly the purchase of overmature and inferior timber is encouraged, 
end when necessary, the less mature areas are withheld until such timber has 
been cut. 
Every contract exceeding five years provides for the readjustment or 
reappraisal of stumpage prices, generally every three years. 
Timber must be advertised for sale. The purchase is completed by the 
making of an agreement between the Forest Service and the operator, and 
the entering of the latter into a bond of from 5 per cent. to 10 per cent. of the 
value of the timber sold, for the due observance of the conditions of the 
contract. The purchaser must submit satisfactory evidence of his financial 
ability to conduct the operation and fulfil the terms of the agreement. 
The welfare of the future stand is the main consideration in every timber 
sale contract. The desires of the purchasers are carefully considered, but 
the silvicultural needs of the forest are regarded as paramount. The aim is 
to obtain the best forest conditions possible, and a utilisation as complete as 
circumstances permit. No sale is made unless it is practicable to specify 
methods of cutting and brush disposal which will retain a sufficient stand for 
protection, and a future cut, or which will ensure the restocking of the cut- 
over area with desirable species. 
There is no such thing in American practice as a fixed minimum girth, 
which is also a rule of expediency, and insufficiently flexible for effective 
silvicultural management. 
The general rule is to retain from 5 per cent. to 10 per cent. of the 
merchantable timber in volume for reseeding in connection with clear cutting. 
and from 25 per cent. to 40 per cent. for a future stand where partial cutting 
is adopted. 
No tree may be cut under any consideration unless it has been marked 
for felling by a forest officer. 
Marking is regarded as of the utmost importance, and takes precedence 
over ordinary administrative routine. A marking board consisting of the 
district forester or chief of silviculture, the forest supervisor, the forest 
assessor, and the officer who is to be in charge of the sale mark representative 
areas and establish the methods to be followed. 
The system of marking and the proportion of timber to be cut is explained 
to the purchaser by marking sample areas before the contract is executed. 
D 
