54 BULLETIN 272, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
AIM AND METHOD CF FOREST MANAGEMENT. 
Forest management is not nearly so well understood as farm 
management, although the object of each is the same; namely, to 
secure the highest financial returns from the class of ban involved. 
With the me of the virgin stands, timberlands become available 
for further productive use for the purpose to which they are best 
adapted from a financial standpomt. Many tracts of forest, par- 
ticularly in the Northeastern States, are bing handled with a view of 
securing the largest continuous yield of ee of the most valuable 
species. This is the aim of forest management. 
To cut the mature timber in such a manner as to secure its fullest 
utilization, and, following logging, to obtain complete stands of young 
seedlings as the basis for the next crop, are the chief objects to be 
attained by properly handling forests. In places where natural 
reproduction fails, the stand may be filled out by sowing seed or 
planting seedlings raised in nursery beds. Protection of the growing 
trees against various forms of injury and further assistance of the - 
trees in their growth by proper thinning are important steps in 
attaining the desired end. 
Forest management of cypress dents atl the proper handling of 
present Supplies rather than with the extension of the species on a 
general scale. For various reasons cypress does not promise to be 
one of the mam contributors of the country’s future timber supply. 
Forest management of cypress in the future will consist chiefly of (1) 
the conservative cutting and close utilization in logeing of the pres- 
ent virgin stand, (2) in many cases the retention and protection of 
the younger growing timber, and (8) manufacturing so as to secure 
the largest production of the best grades. 
PROFITABLENESS OF FOREST MANAGEMENT. 
In logging virgin cypress timber, the question inevitably arises 
whether it is profitable to leave the younger portions of the stand 
for a second cut. For example, if a cypress stand cut clean at the 
present time will yield $10,000 net profit, will it pay the owner to 
take four-fifths of the merchantable timber at the present time, con- 
sisting of the larger classes and yielding a net profit of $9,000, and 
postpone the returns on $1,000! until the time of a second cut? 
In favor of holding a portion of the timber for the second cut are 
the following: The increased local demand for timber resulting from 
the establishment of new industries in the South, the faster growth 
of the timber left standing from the first cutting, and the excessive cost 
of clearing and draining deep swamp land covered with stumps and 
roots. Under these conditionsit willundoubtedly in many instances be 
good business to leave cypress trees below a specified diameter limit, 
1 Smail sizes are expensive to log and yield little if any net profit. 
