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advantage to stick closely to their experienced workmen. The com- 

 panies have so distributed their labor over the entire year that men 

 are needed at all times. 



The same idea with reference to distributing labor over the entire 

 year could be used to advantage in forestry. While it is true there 

 is certain forestry work, such as nursery work and fire patrol, which 

 requires prompt action, there is a great deal of labor of other kinds 

 which can be distributed over the greater part of the year just as it 

 must be done when laborers cannot be had. 



In forestry nearly every kind of labor must be done with the great- 

 est care. Ordinary laborers in many cases are not capable of accom- 

 plishing the best results. For instance, take a man into the forest to 

 do improvement work who has never swung an axe more than to split 

 wood on his own wood pile ; while he may be one of the best of work- 

 men, he knows nothing about handling an axe, nothing about felling 

 trees, cannot cut stumps as they should be cut, and in general knows 

 little about the woods and the requirements of the work. But he is 

 willing and always ready to do what is asked of him in his way of 

 working. This man will soon realize how improvement work must 

 be done, and in a short time can do fairly well. If men of this kind 

 could be employed regularly, they undoubtedly would work to better 

 advantage than if picked up at leisure. 



Not alone in improvement work would a regularly employed force 

 of laborers be a great advantage, but on reserves where nurseries 

 have been established they could be available for the rush season of 

 the year. In the early spring when nursery work must be pushed, 

 when most planting must be done, and, as a rule when men are scarce, 

 these regular men could be used to great advantage. By experience 

 rhey would soon learn how nursery work must be done and in case 

 of the absence of the forester in charge they could go ahead and cause 

 no delaj^ which so often is the case where the forester has charge of 

 work other than that of the nursery. 



Again in the spring and fall fire seasons there is always necessity 

 for placing extra fire wardens on most of the reserves. The ranger 

 in most cases has to patrol at least from five to seven thousand acres 

 of mountainous country which, of course, is entirely too great. He 

 may be in one region and fire be burning in another for several hours 

 before he discovers it. Instead of taking some laborer not suited to 

 the position, as in many cases the forester is compelled to do, one of 

 these regular men could be available for each range at any time ; and 

 in case of rain or damp weather there is always plenty of other work 

 for them, such as opening roads, fire lanes, repainting boundary lines, 

 and numerous other small jobs that otherwise must be done. 



The salary of these men would necessarily vary according to the 

 standard of the locality. In localities where lumbering is carried on 



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