FORESTRY. 



EDITED BY DR B. E. FERNOW, 

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



institution. 

 It takes 30 years? to grow a tree and 30 minutes to cut it down and destroy it. 



FOREST RESERVE POLICY. 



The following statement respecting the 

 present and future policy of the administra- 

 tion relating to the establishment and con- 

 trol of forest reservations was recently 

 made by Commissioner Richards, of the 

 General Land Office : 



"The President's desire and purpose are 

 to protect and preserve the remaining for- 

 ests on public lands from the devastation 

 and destruction which have been the fate of 

 those in large portions of the Appalachian 

 mountains and in other forested sections 

 of the country. In doing this timber will 

 be preserved for future needs, and natu- 

 ral sources of water supply will be so 

 protected as to prevent flooding of the 

 streams during the spring and the melting 

 of the snows, and to insure water for 

 irrigation and other purposes during the 

 dry season. The establishment and proper 

 maintenance of forest reserves are indis- 

 pensable to any extensive reclamation or 

 cultivation of lands in the arid region under 

 the recent act of Congress which appropri- 

 ates for that purpose the proceeds of the 

 sales of public lands. 



"It is and has been the President's con- 

 sistent policy to encourage the actual set- 

 tlement of the country by home builders in 

 every way, to see that actual settlers with- 

 in the forest reserves are accorded every 

 reasonable protection, and that those living 

 within the immediate vicinity of these re- 

 serves, who are dependent on the reserves 

 for grazing areas for cattle and horses and 

 for necessary timber for building and fuel, 

 are accorded access to the reserves for 

 these purposes under such reasonable re- 

 strictions as will prevent waste and de- 

 struction. It has been so conclusively dem- 

 onstrated that uncontrolled sheep grazing 

 within forest reserves is injurious to the 

 forest growth and to the natural water cov- 

 er, that the great migratory flocks of sheep 

 are necessarily kept out of the reserves; 

 but even this policy is pursued with cau- 

 tious attention to the prevention of in- 

 jury to those engaged in sheep raising. 

 The preservation of wild game, such as 

 moose, elk and deer, which is only a minor 

 feature of the control of the forest re- 

 serves, is authorized by an act of Congress, 

 which directs that those employed in the 

 forestry service shall in all practical ways 

 aid in the enforcement of the game and 



fish laws of the State or Territory in which 

 the forest reserve is located. The law of 

 the State or Territory on this subject is 

 to be the sole guide of these officers. The 

 United States has interposed no law of its 

 own, and the administration has given no 

 directions to its forest officers other than 

 that the local laws, whatever they may be, 

 shall be enforced. In some of the Western 

 States and Territories, notably Wyoming, 

 the government forest rangers are by the 

 laws of the State made assistant game war- 

 dens of the State. 



"The work of establishing and maintain- 

 ing forest reserves will have such a vast and 

 beneficial influence in the settlement and de- 

 velopment of the Western States and Ter- 

 ritories that it must be controlled by a 

 fixed policy, to which matters of minor or 

 temporary concern must give way for the 

 general and permanent public good. The 

 one guiding purpose of the administration 

 in dealing with forestry, with pasturage, 

 with irrigation, with the land generally, is 

 to help and make easy the path of the 

 home-builder, the small ranchman, or tiller 

 of the soil, and not to let the land be ex- 

 ploited and skinned by those who have no 

 permanent interest therein, and who do not 

 build homes or remain as actual residents." 



SEEDLINGS. 

 In the hardwood forest of the Adiron- 

 dacks, where the pine and spruce have been 

 severely culled, the only practicable method, 

 both from financial and silvicultural points 

 of view of securing a desirable new crop, 

 is a clear cutting system, followed by ar- 

 tificial regeneration of the conifers, leaving 

 only enough of the hardwoods to produce 

 an admixture by natural regeneration, and 

 saving only so much of the promising vol- 

 unteer growth of young hardwoods and 

 conifers as is not liable to be thrown by 

 the winds. Indeed, it may often be best 

 to make a clean sweep ; denude, though the 

 word has been used to denote vandalism, 

 and replace artificially without reference to 

 existing volunteer growth. This planting, 

 of course, costs ; it is an investment for the 

 future, but one that can be easily shown to 

 be profitable in the long run. This method 

 can not be practiced without taking care of 

 the rubbish resulting from the logging op- 

 eration, and this, of course, again entails 

 expense. When a simple and efficient sys- 



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