364 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



In the attempts to introduce more conservative methods of lumbering, it has been 

 usual to restrict the cut to trees above a given diameter. By such restriction, possibly, 

 a less wasteful use of the existing supplies may be attained, but the main object 

 of the forester's art, namely, securing a valuable aftergrowth, is not at all, or most 

 uncertainly, attained. The College has, therefore, not allowed itself to be bound 

 down by any such mere commercial considerations. In its contract with the manu- 

 facturer it has reserved the right to cut or to leave uncut whatever trees it is desirable 

 to leave or to cut, the College being the arbiter as to what, in a proper forest manage- 

 ment, is to determine this choice. Old and large trees, therefore, may be left, be it 

 for seed trees or for other reasons, and small or young trees may be cut, if by their 

 removal an advantage is secured from the forester's point of view. Silvicultural con- 

 siderations — i. e., the condition in which the forest is left with a view of securing a 

 new, more valuable crop — alone decide this question, except so far as financial or 

 business considerations must modify the ideals of the silviculturist. 



Since, finally, this reproduction of the wood crop, like all production, is an economic 

 problem, the silviculturist, while he has the task of securing the new crop, must also 

 count the cost and secure the result by the least expensive means and methods. 



Briefly, then, the problem is : How to cut and dispose of the old hardwood crop 

 most profitably, at the same time saving the young spruce which is on the groundf 

 and leaving enough seed trees of the various kinds forming the forest to secure a 

 desirable new crop of a mixture in which the conifers have the preponderance. 



In some places this may be more cheaply and more effectively secured by cutting 

 the old crop without considering the existing young growth, and replant by hand. 

 This method would be called into requisition where the forest has been culled too 

 severely, or where, for other reasons, the conifers are absent and their reproduction 

 is desired. 



In the contract under which the College is working, due to business considerations 

 of the market, the amount annually to be cut is necessarily determined by the 

 requirements of the manufacturer: i. e., a certain, stated amount of material must 

 annually be delivered. To the European forester and to those who attempt to 

 propagate European methods of forest management in this country under a 

 system of so-called "working plans," this basis for determining the cut, the absence 

 of yield calculations, and of propositions for a sustained-yield management, will 

 appear strange. 



It is customary in Germany, and wherever German methods are blindly followed, 

 to determine the capital stock of wood standing in a forest, to calculate how much 

 this stock annually increases by growth, and then to determine from these data how 

 much may be annually cut without impairing the wood capital ; in other words, to 



