FORESTRY. 



3'3 



MttaUy or periodically , and their silvicultural 

 success, that is the character of the new crop, 

 is uncertain especially in the mixed forest. 

 The immediate removal, followed by arti- 

 ficial replacement, entails money outlay 

 for the latter from year to year, but 

 saves expense in the harvest and re- 

 duces the investment for roads. Its 

 silvicultural success can be forced; it 

 is merely a question of pocket. 



The selection forest system is the poor- 

 est, both financially and silviculturally, 

 and to be applied only where absolute 

 necessity for keeping a continuous cover 

 exists or where better methods can not 

 be practiced on account of market con- 

 ditions. 



Over 80% of the forests of Germany are 

 managed under a clearing system (de- 

 nudation) or rapid removal system; less 

 than 20% are managed under slow removal 

 systems or coppice, and mostly only on 

 small limited areas. In Prussian state 

 forests, nearly 7,000,000 acres, only 5%, 

 35,000 acres, are managed as selection 

 forest; over 65% is managed in clearing 

 and artificial replanting, less than 3% in 

 coppice, the balance, 32%, in rapid re- 

 moval system. On the cleared areas, 

 2,000 to 4,000 seedlings per acre more 

 or less, are planted which, inj 25 to 35 

 years, reduced to about 1,800 trees growing 

 up like a wheat field, furnish in 60 years 

 on soils not better than the Adirondacks 

 30 to 40,000 feet B. M. 



A combination of natural regenera- 

 tion with artificial assistance is the only 

 rational method where, as in our culled 

 forests, the most desirable species have 

 been removed and the less desirable and 

 the decrepit have been left on the ground. 

 In such cases provision must be made 

 to re-establish the desirable kinds by 

 planting, after removal or reduction 

 of the less desirable. 



The College forest, according to the 

 reading of the law, was primarily to be 

 managed as a supply forest, for it is to 

 "harvest and reproduce woodcrops and 

 earn a revenue therefrom. Only secon- 

 darily or by implication is it to be man- 

 aged as a protection forest, wherever 

 this consideration is essential on steep 

 slopes or hilltops. It is a mixed forest 

 from which the desirable softwoods (pine 

 and spruce) have been culled, and the less 

 desirable hardwoods, decrepit and dam- 

 aged runts, are left. The management has 

 not been furnished with capital to make 

 gradual removal methods practicable in 

 most places, hence concentrated harvest, 

 with artificial replacement of softwoods, 

 assisted as far as possible by natural re- 

 production of both softwoods and hard- 

 woods, leaving hilltops and steep slopes 

 untouched to furnish soil protection and 

 additional seeding, is in most places the 

 only desirable method. 



The choice of method was therefore 

 partly forced by financial considerations, 

 partly a result of deliberation on the best 

 silvicultural result. 



LUMBERING AND FISHERIES. 



A visit to the lumber regions of the 

 North at the present time can not fail 

 to impress one with the evils of river 

 driving. To stand on the bank and watch 

 the logs glide easily by seems at first 

 thought to be a cheap, easy and ideal 

 method of transportation. Cheapness, 

 however, is its only advantage Only 

 those trees can be cut which will float. 

 In this way the forest is robbed of its 

 white pine, spruce and even cedar and 

 balsam. After these have been exhausted 

 it is finally necessary to build a railroad 

 in order to transport the hardwoods which 

 are left. If a railroad is built in the be- 

 ginning both the hardwoods and the 

 softwoods can be utilized together so 

 that the cost of exploitation is per 

 acre less than were the softwoods first 

 cut and driven in the river and then, 

 later, a railroad constructed for the 

 transportation of the hardwoods. 



River driving in the end, therefore, 

 has probably no financial advantage in 

 mixed forests. It is, the cheapest 



way of transporting softwoods; yet a 

 large number of logs sink and are lost; 

 others float beyond recovery into the 

 brush and are overlooked; while others 

 are splintered into bits by blasting in 

 the process of jam breaking. River 

 driving is fitful and uncertain. It is 

 dependent on the quantity of water 

 which nature supplies. It must be done 

 in - a hurry at one season of the year. If 

 anything goes wrong and the drive gets 

 tied up, the mill is deprived of its logs, 

 contracts can not be filled and the whole 

 business is more or less crippled in con- 

 sequence. 



In the case of railroad transportation 

 the utilization is more nearly complete and 

 work goes on throughout the whole year 

 if need be. Men are evenly and per- 

 manently employed and the industry, 

 while wood lasts at least, is more regular 

 and certain. Some might argue that it is 

 fortunate for the woods that river driving 

 is still practiced. With river driving only 

 the softwoods are used and the hard- 

 woods are left to beautify the hills. In the 

 case of railroad transportation every- 

 thing would be cut clean and the mountain 

 sides would be bared to the destructive 

 action of fire, sun, wind and flood. 



In regions in which forests are really 

 needed for protective purposes little cut- 

 ting should be permitted anyway. These 

 areas should be under State control and 

 should be exploited so they will per- 

 form the function for which they are 



