THE LIFE OF A FORESTER 87 
is largely one of forest inspector. He runs out the 
boundary lines with a compass; he estimates and maps 
the timber, showing where patches of fire or insect- 
killed timber are located in order that they may be 
immediately removed. He lays out the road system 
for the logging job and selects the camp sites. He 
estimates the growth of the timber and how much can 
be cut annually and forever, or if they are cutting 
beyond their growth, how long their supply will last. 
He marks the timber ahead of the choppers, super- 
vises the piling of brush, enforces close utilization— 
low stumps, and cutting the logs far into the crowns. 
These are some of the duties hkely to fall upon the 
shoulders of men employed by lumbermen. In some 
quarters it is claimed that foresters have not been worth 
their salt to lumbermen in the past. The trouble may 
have lain between them both. Hither the lumberman 
did not know what he could expect of his technically 
trained man or the forester may have been slow to 
develop new lines of work. Many of the paper com- 
panies of the East are now employing foresters and 
find that the map system alone, showing the present 
stand of timber, and the site of previous cuttings, the 
general topography of their holdings, is worth the 
salary of the forester for many years. In one instance 
a forester by locating an insect attack on one of his 
cruising trips and by insisting that the logging boss 
eut the infected timber at once, finally succeeded in 
saving over $100,000 worth of timber and this prompt 
action prevented a further spread of the pest. 
Upon a private estate a forester’s life depends upon 
circumstances. If it is a large forest area from 
10,000 acres up, he may have use for his technical 
training in supervising the logging operation or 
