THE PRACTICABILITY OF FORESTRY. 23 



Woods often suffer from windfall after being thinned. If a stand 

 of timber is situated on an exposed flat or hillside, and if it is to be 

 cut clear in strips or patches, it is best to begin the cutting on the lee 

 side and move toward the prevailing wind. If the cutting moves 

 away from the prevailing wind, the trees left standing on the exposed 

 edge of the woods are frequenth^ thrown down or bent over. To 

 avoid windfall, thinnings should be ver}' light on exposed slopes or 

 summits and in swamps where the soil is soft. 



It is a good plan in making thinnings to leave the woods very dense 

 on the edge exposed to the wind, and also on the edge exposed to the 

 hottest ra3^s of the sun. The purpose is both to prevent windfall and 

 to protect the soil from the drying effect of the wind and sun, the force 

 of which is broken by a dense fringe of trees and' brush. Often ice 

 storms damage trees, particularly Chestnut and Chestnut -Oak. The 

 principal cause of the injury is the wind, which breaks the limbs and 

 tops when the}' are laden with ice. The measures advised to prevent 

 damage by wind serve also to prevent damage b}^ ice storms. 



THE PRACTICABILITY OF FORESTRY. 



Forestry always involves some present outlay, either of money, 

 labor, or time. This outlay mav be represented by extra care on the 

 part of the choppers in protecting 3'oung growth; it ma}^ consist in a 

 curtailment of present gains through leaving some merchantable trees 

 for seed or through slightly increased cost of cutting; and it may be 

 a direct outlay of mone}^ for protection against fire, for marking the 

 trees to be cut, for planting, for pruning, or for other work of 

 improvement. These sacriiices incident to practicing forestr}^ are, 

 however, insignificant when compared with the net returns certain to 

 result from them in the end. 



The writers have advised several different methods of cutting, each 

 requiring some slight present sacrifice or outla3\ In using either 

 the Scattered Seed Tree Method or the Method of Reserves, the only 

 outlay demanded is the time necessary" to select the seed trees or the 

 reserves and the cost of marking them to prevent their being cut with 

 the others. These seed trees or reserves could, if cut, be sold and 

 realized upon at once. Left standing, the}^ represent an investment 

 equal to their present stumpage value. The reproduction which these 

 seed trees insure and the wood 3^early added to them by growth will 

 be an ample return on the investment. 



In the Strip and the Patch method the onl}^ cost of f orestr}^ is the cost 

 of locating and marking the strips or patches to be cut, and in some 

 cases the extra cost of cutting and hauling due to limiting the area cut 

 over in a single year to small strips or patches. 



The Method of Successive Thinnings can not be carried out as 



