28 THE REDWOOD." 



consistenth^ logged with an e\^e to the future value of its holdings. 

 The forest is the usual ridge-timber type of Redwood, Red Fir, and 

 Tanbark Oak, varied with occasional bottona-land stands of pure 

 Redwood; and the practice has been to cut no trees under 20 inches 

 in diameter (PL YIIl). The trees left standing have in a few 3^ears so 

 restocked the ground with Redwood suckers and Fir seedlings that at a 

 distance the hillsides look well wooded. In most places the stand is 

 thick enough to insure clear trunks and render the danger from fire 

 much less than it would have been under the usual system of laying 

 bare the land. 



The result has been in every way worth the effort. It cost next to 

 nothing to make the experiment, for the trees left standing had no 

 market value. 



Instead of bare ridges washed by rain and run over b}^ fires, there 

 is now a 3'oung forest, which keeps the soil moist and firm and feeds 

 the water into the streams so gradually as to cause an even flow. The 

 land is becoming more and more valuable as the forest grows. 



These advantages were gained at the trifling expense of using care 

 to save the small trees in logging. On some areas, where the old stand 

 was heavy, there is young Redwood only 1:5 years old that is 20 to 30 

 inches on the stump and nearly 100 feet high (PI. IX, fig. 2). This 

 timber is already marketable as piles. The whole area of the Mendo- 

 cino Lumber Company will again bear timber and regain much of its 

 former value. 



The Mendocino Lumber Company's management of its Redwood is 

 worthy of careful attention. The example it has set is especially to 

 the point, because it shows a practical and cheap method of dealing 

 with a difficult problem. At little expense and trouble the company 

 has assured itself of future crops of timber, and has thereb}^ con- 

 siderably increased the selling price of its cut-over lands. The con- 

 ditions under which these results were brought about were not 

 exceptional, but average; the}^ prevail throughout a greater part of 

 the Redwood belt. 



Something more than what the Mendocino Company has done may 

 be necessary in some cases. For example, something might be spent 

 in protecting the cut -over lands from fire until the 3^oung growth can 

 protect itself. But whatever is done must be done with a sharp e\^e 

 to the cost. 



