FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR. B. E. FERNOW, 



Director of the New York School of Forestry, Cornell University, assisted by Dr. John C. Gifford of the sam« 



institution. 

 It takes thirty years to grow a tree and thirty minutes to cut it down and destroy it. 



FORESTRY IN NEW YORK. 



The attack which wealthy camp owners 

 in the Adirondack^ are making on the 

 College of Forestry, dictated entirely by 

 selfish interests, has at least an educational 

 advantage in that it brings out the true 

 nature of Forestry, as an art and a busi- 

 ness, making it better known and ap- 

 preciated, by the necessity of explaining 

 the procedures in the College Forest 

 Management. Since such clear under- 

 standing of the nature of forestry is 

 desirable elsewhere, I reprint one of the 

 campaign documents, issued by the Di- 

 rector, in full. He has put the essential 

 points into the form of 12 Theses, as 

 follows : 



Forestry is the art of utilizing the for- 

 est and at the same time perpetuating 

 it. It is wholly utilitarian; it has nothing, 

 except incidentally, to do with the esthetic 

 aspects of forest growth, which concern 

 the landscape gardener. A wood crop is its 

 object, just as a food crop is the object of 

 agriculture. The only obligation which 

 forestry imposes in the use or harvest 

 of a forest growth is to systematically 

 replace the harvested crop. In this 

 obligation mainly, if not alone, does 

 forestry differ from lumbering. 



A limitation of the size of trees to be 

 cut or to be left uncut has not necessarily 

 any bearing on the replacement of the 

 crop. Such a restriction to cut or leave 

 certain sizes is either indicated by financial 

 considerations, or else it is a device to pre- 

 vent over cutting, wherever no systematic 

 attention to the replacment of the crop 

 can be or will be given. It does not pay 

 to cut below a certain diameter. 



In the College forests no hard wood 

 trees below 14 inches or soft woods 

 below 12 inches are cut, unless they are 

 defective and not fit to grow into the new 

 crop, or likely to damage the young crop 

 by shade or by being thrown by winds. 



The many methods of reproducing a 

 new crop which are practiced, vary mainly 

 in the rapidity with which the old crop 

 is removed, namely, 



From immediate absolute clearing, when 

 the new crop must be either artificially 

 planted or is secured by seeds from a neigh- 

 boring old stand; 



Through various degrees of gradual re- 

 moval; when the old crop is entirely 

 removed in 2 to 20 years, the crop being 

 secured from trees on the area by seeds, 



and rapidity of removal of the old crop 

 being gauged by the need for light of the 

 young crop; 



To the so-called "selection forest," 

 in which only single trees, here and there, 

 are removed from time to time and nature 

 alone is left to reproduce the crop as best 

 it may in the small openings made. 



No method of reproducing is the only 

 proper one, and in an experimental or 

 demonstration forest which is to teach 

 methods and demonstrate their results, all 

 or a number of these methods should be 

 exhibited. 



The choice of method depends on the 

 species present or to be reproduced, on 

 climate and soil, on the objects to be at- 

 tained by the management and on financial 

 considerations. 



In a mixed forest of nature the species 

 composing the forest are not all equally 

 useful; in the foresters' forest the most 

 useful ones must be made to preponderate 

 or occupy the ground, and the "weed" 

 trees must be subdued. 



There are 3 objects to be attained by 

 forest growth, namely, to furnish wood 

 supplies, to furnish protection of soil and 

 water flow, to furnish pleasure and sport. 

 We may accordingly recognize supply 

 forests, protection forests and luxury 

 forests. 



The first object is, to the people at 

 large, the most important; the second is 

 of importance only in certain limited 

 locations ; the third concerns only or mainly 

 certain classes; but the third, as well as 

 the second — pleasure and protection — 

 can be attained without losing sight of 

 the first — wood supplies. All 3 objects are 

 simultaneously attained in the managed 

 forests of Europe. 



Where the second and third objects, 

 protection and pleasure, are paramount, 

 the methods of harvesting and reproduc- 

 ing the crop are circumscribed by the 

 necessity of keeping a constant cover; 

 hence, gradual removal methods are ad- 

 visable, although by no means always 

 necessary. In a supply forest the choice of 

 method is limited only by financial con- 

 sideration including the assurance of 

 silvicultural success that is of a satisfac- 

 tory new crop. 



The gradual removal methods entail 

 large initial investments for means 

 of transportation over large territory, 

 in order to harvest enough material an- 



312 



