21 
Vv. 
NEW TREES FOR OLD. 
UT while we have done nothing 
in the way of coping with fire 
by systematic means, we have 
done just as little in the way 
of making the best and the most 
of our natural timber resources in other 
ways. For Forest Conservation, as the 
secretary of the Kauri Timber Company 
recently reminded the Timber Commis- 
sion, means a great dea] more than pro- 
tecting standing trees. To the expert in 
forestry, conservation means tending the 
forest, planting new trees to replace the 
old ones, cutting out only the trees ready 
for immediate use, and generally making 
the very best of our natural resources. 
And 1 leaye it to anyone and everyone 
in the least degree conversant with the 
methods of timber cutting gen- 
erally pursued in this country to decide 
whether they can be termed careful and 
econmical, So far back as 1870, Sir James 
(then Doctor) Hector, addressing a Select 
Committee on Colonial Industries, said 
that the complete destruction of our 
native bush was most wasteful and un- 
necessary. “It is not all necessary,” said 
this eminent scientist, “that the forest 
should be completely removed in the way 
that it usually is, either for the purposes 
of agricultural settlement, or the obtain- 
ing of timber for mills, firewood, and 
fencing, The thinning out of the forest 
would be ample in most cases to supply 
all our wants.” No doubt our system of 
deforestation is just as extravagant as it 
Was forty years ago in New Zealaud; and 
so far as the rest of the world is con- 
cerned there seems to be a general consen- 
sus of opinion that careful and scientific 
methods of timber cutting would make a 
vast difference to the present position, 
and the future prospects of the industry. 
Rudolf Cronau, an authority who has had 
wide experience of American forests dur- 
ing the past thirty years, tells us in an 
(9 
o 
article on “ A Continent Despoiled,” in a 
Tecent issue of “ McClure’s Magazine,” 
that the Iumbermen waste half of every 
tree they cut. “ One-fourth of the stand- 
ing timber is left or otherwise lost in log- 
ging. The loss in the mill is from one- 
third to two-thirds of the timber sawed. 
The loss in the mill product through 
seasoning and fitting for use is from one- 
seventh to one-fourth. Only 320 feet of 
timber are used for each thousand feet 
that stood in the forest.” This estimate 
corresponds closely enough with the 
opinion advanced by Dr. Bristol, of the 
United States Forestry Department, who 
states that at least fifty per cent, if not 
more, of the average tree as it stands in 
the forest is wasted before reaching the 
market in the form of timber. In similar 
terms Mr M. G. Seckendorf, writing on 
“The Elimination of Waste” in ‘ Mun- 
sey’s Magazine,’ has shown that some 
seventy-five per cent of America’s forest 
products is wasted, and that most of 
this disastrous loss is due to preventible 
fires, careless logging, and wasteful mill 
operations. 
THE WASTE 
OF TIMBER. 
In view of these facts, it is not sur- 
prising to find that in the countries 
where some practical attempt is being 
made to avert the coming timber famine 
careful regulations are laid down for the 
cutting out of the State forests. In the 
American national forests, for example, it 
is stipulated that all trees cut down must 
be felled in such a manner as to protect 
the young growth as far as possible from 
injury, and that wherever necessary the 
brush and tops must be piled and 
burned. But merely to cut down the best 
trees in the best way and to save the 
residue from fire is not enough. Mr 
Julian Helburn, writing in the “American 
Magazine” on deforestation under the 
