33^ REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



No. III. 



Forest Management:. 



T would be impracticable to discuss here the various details of forest management; 



I 



nor would a description of such technical work be of any interest to the general 

 reader. But there are certain elementary principles which enter into the various 

 methods, and which may be briefly outlined. 



Any plan of forest management necessarily depends on existing conditions, such 

 as the character of the forest itself, whether old or young, good or bad ; also, on the 

 market values, cost of labor, and selling price of the product, logs, timber, lumber, 

 pulpwood, bark, railroad ties, fuel, or whatever it may be; and, whether the owner 

 desires the largest immediate return, or is willing to hold his property as an invest- 

 ment from which he may derive a small but perpetual income, equivalent to a fair 

 interest on the principal. 



If the forest is to be cut as fast as possible to satisfy some pressing pecuniary needs, 

 to enable the land owner to realize on his property without regard to the future, then 

 the work of management is comparatively simple; for it involves only the most 

 economical methods of cutting and hauling the timber. But if the owner contemplates 

 a future succession of timber crops, if he wishes to treat his property as an investment 

 that will yield a regular interest on the principal, then he must, in addition to 

 economical methods of harvesting, add the technical work of the forester whose 

 working plans make provision not only for future revenues, but, also, for an increase in 

 the productive value of the property. That there can be a continual cutting of the 

 trees, and yet have a permanent forest may seem contradictory to some ; but this very 

 thing has been and is being done in European countries. In their forests the matured 

 trees are not left to decay and fall, to be killed by insect, blight or any of the other 

 destructive agencies which are at work in every forest. The people there have learned 

 to harvest the annual product of their woodlands, and still preserve them undiminished 

 in area and unimpaired as to their beneficent and protective functions. 



As the forest management of Europe is based on centuries of experience in the 

 propagation and care of woodlands, some information as to the general methods 

 practiced there will be of interest in connection with this subject. 



There are three distinct systems of cutting and reproduction which have been used 

 in European forests. The essential principle in each may be briefly stated as follows: 



First: Where the forest is fully grown, to harvest the annual growth by selecting 

 the matured trees only, proper provision for the future growth being made by natural 

 seeding, thinning and pruning, and the removal of diseased trees or undesirable 

 species. This system does not necessarily require the removal of all the mature trees, 



