20 PRACTICAL FORESTRY IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 
natural reproduction is nearly always supplemented by planting or 
sowing. The results of planting are without doubt most satisfactory, 
but for lumbermen in the Adirondacks it can not be considered on 
account of the great outlay it involves. 
FIRE LINES. 
The forests in Europe are usually cut up into divisions which range 
in size from 25 to over 100 acres, and are separated by roads or lines. 
The purpose of this division is to facilitate the description of the forest 
and the location of cuttings, to make the whole forest readily accessible, 
and to aid in putting out fires. The opening of similar strips has been 
advocated in a number of instances for regions in this country where 
the danger from fire is great. If well kept up, they would be a great 
help in putting out fires, but in the Adirondacks the expense of their 
construction and maintenance would make them impracticable for most: 
private owners. It may be said in this connection that in certain sec- 
tions, especially in the Southern States, the burning of fire strips is 
entirely practicable and advisable. 
THE SYSTEM OF MANAGEMENT ADVOCATED FOR THE TWO 
TRACTS. 
The provisions of European forestry, just enumerated as impractica- 
ble at present in the Adirondacks, have hitherto been the chief barriers 
in the way of the adoption of forestry by lumbermen. When the 
forester sees that in many cases they must be given up, a system satis- 
factory to all can be devised. In the present case the owners of Nehasane 
Park and the Whitney Preserve will be satisfied with the income 
from the timber above 10 inches in diameter, and on this basis they 
can obtain satisfactory contracts for cutting the timber. The forester 
is satisfied from a careful study that the Spruce over 10 inches in 
diameter can be cut without injuring the forest, provided certain trees 
over this size are left for seed. Although successive crops could be 
obtained from the land at shorter intervals if 12 instead of 10 inches 
were made the average minimum limit of cutting, the owners prefer to 
wait a longer time for the second crop and to get a larger return at 
once. The system of cutting recommended for the two tracts is, 
briefly, to remove the Spruce measuring 10 inches and over in diameter 
at 3 feet from the ground, except certain trees which are needed to 
seed up the openings made in lumbering. 
PURPOSE OF A WORKING PLAN. 
The object of forestry is to remove the timber from a given tract in 
such a way that repeated crops can be obtained for an indefinite period 
without decreasing the producing power of the forest. In order to do 
this ‘it is necessary to know just what trees must be left standing to 
