Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr

PLATE I.

LUMBERING, A PART OF THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY.

BULLETIN No. 24, PART II.

U, S, DEPAKTMENT OF AGKIOULTUBE,

/ BUREAU OF FORESTRY.

> —

A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

PART II.- PRACTICAL FORESTRY.

By G-IfPI^ORJJ FIIVCHOT,

FORESTED. I

WASHINGTON:

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE.

1905.

LETTER OF TRANSM1TTAL.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

BUREAU OF FORESTRY,
Washington, D. C., June 26, 1903.
SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith the man-
uscript of the second half of "A Primer of Forestry,"
and to recommend its publication as Bulletin No. 2tt,
Part II, of this Bureau. The second part (Practical
Forestry) deals with the practice of forestry, with
work in the woods, and with the relation of the forest
to the weather and the streams, and concludes with a
short account of forestry at home and abroad.

The illustrations are from photographs in the collec-
tion of the Bureau of Forestry, some of which were
contributed by gentlemen not members of the Bureau,
to whom I desire to express my acknowledgments.
Respectful ly,

GlFFORD PlNCHOT,

Forester.
Hon. JAMES WILSON,

Secretary of Agriculture.

3

CONTENTS.

Paea

CHAPTER I. — THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY 7

The service of the forest 7

The uses of the forest

Four requirements for the best service 11

The yield of a forest 14

Silvicultural systems 18

Simple coppice 19

Stored coppice 21

Seed or high forest 22

Kegular seed forest 23

Two-storied seed forest 27

Selection forest 28

Localized selection 30

The group system 33

The strip system 35

Improvement cuttings 36

CHAPTER II. — WORK IN THE WOODS 38

Conservative lumbering 40

Conservative lumbering and ordinary lumbering.. 41

Felling the trees 42

Swamping and sawing 45

Skidding 47

Transportation 49

At the mills 51

Waste in lumbering 53

Planting 54

5

6 O'NTKXTS.

Page.

I'IIMTKK III.— THK WKATHKK \M» THI: STKF.KMS 56

Forests ami climate 57

Kffect of forest cover on temperature 59

F.xtivnies of heat and cold 61

Moisture in forest air 62

Kvaj oration 63

Rainfall 66

Fallen rain 67

CHAPTER IV. — FORESTRY ABROAD AND AT HOMK 74

Forestry abroad 74

The forest in early times 75

Modern forestry 75

Germany 77

France 77

Switzerland 78

British India 80

Forestry at home 81

The settler and the forest 82

First steps in forestry 83

The public domain 85

Federal forest reserves 85

State f« .rest ry S7

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Number.

Plates 18

Text figures 47

A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

CHAPTER I.
THE PRACTICE OF FORESTRY.

THE SERVICE OF THE FOREST.

Next to the earth itself the forest is the most useful
servant of man. Not only does it sustain and regulate
the streams, moderate the winds, and beautify the
land, but it also supplies wood, the most widely used
of all materials. Its uses are numberless, and the
demands which are made upon it by mankind are
numberless also. It is essential to the well-being of
mankind that these demands should be met. They
must be met steadily, fully, and at the right time if the
forest is to give its best service. The object of prac-
tical forestry is precisely to make the forest render its
best service to man in such a way as to increase rather
than to diminish its usefulness in the future. Forest
management and conservative lumbering are other
names for practical forestry. Under whatever name it
may be known, practical forestry means both the use
and the preservation of the forest.

7

8

A PRIMKK oF FORFSTRY.

-mi ; 9Efl OF Tin-: FOKF.ST.

A forest, large or small, may render its service in
many ways. It may reach its highest usefulness by
standing as a safeguard against Hoods, winds, snow
slides. moving sands, or especially against the dearth
of water in the >t reams. A forest used in this way is
called a protection forest, and is usually found in the
mountains, or on bleak, open plains, or ny the sea.
I - Forests which protect the

headwaters of st reams
used for irrigation, and
many of the larger wind-
.fff breaks of the Western

*&yjrJB&J&**fi« plains, are protection for-
ests. The Adirondack and
Cat-kill woodlands were re-
garded as protection fore-!-
by the people of the State of
New York when the}7 for-
bade, in the constitution of
1895, the felling.dest ruction,
or removal of any trees from
the State Forest Preserve.
A farmer living directly on the produce of his land
would tind his woodlot most useful to him when it
>upplied the large-t amount of wood for his peculiar
in-.MU. or the be>t gra/ing for hi- cattle. A railroad
holding land which it did not wish to sell would per-
haps tind it nn»t useful when it produced the greatest
number of tie- and bridge timbers. In b< th cases the
would render it- hot service by producing the

K;. L— Alpine hemlock iu a i>r<>-

trctioii foiv-t. CiiM-adr Moun-
tain*.

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept of Agr.

PLATE II.

Fis. 1. — WINDBREAKS OF LOMBARDY POPLAR, INTENDED TO PROTECT ORCHARD TREES
AGAINST WIND AND MOVING SAND. NEAR THE DALLES, OREGON.

FIG. 2. — PROTECTION FOREST ABOUT A LAKE. ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, NEW YORK.

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE III.

SCENE IN THE SIHLWALD, THE TOWN FOREST OF ZURICH, SWITZERLAND, FROM WHICH ITS
OWNER DESIRES THE GREATEST NET MONEY RETURN.

THE USES OE THE FOREST.

9

greatest quantity of valuable material. This is the
central idea upon which the national forests of France
are managed.

The greatest return in money may be the service
most desired of the forest. If a farmer wished to
sell the product of his woodlot instead of consuming- it

Fi<>. '_'. — Moving sand dunes near Cape May, N. J., where once the whaling
town of Portsmouth stood. In the foreground, red cedars buried and partly
uncovered by the wind.

himself, his woodland would be useful to him just in
proportion to its net yield in money. This is true
also in the case of any owner of a forest who wishes to
dispose of its product, but who can not, or will not,
sell the forest itself. State forests, like those in the

10

A PRIMKR OF FOKI.STRY.

Axlirondacks, often render their hest service, in addi-
tion to their usefulness a> protection forests, hy pro-
ducing the greatest net money return.

KM.. :'.. An

jn-odiu-tivc

t'nrot in H;iv:irin.

Regarded a- an investment of capital, a forest i>

iim-t ii-et'ul \\lien it yields the hi^liext rate of interest.
A foi'e-t \\ ho-e ownerrould sell it if lie chose, hilt piv-
to hold it a- productive capital. U useful in pro-

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BEST SERVICE. 11

portion to the interest it yields on the money invested
in it. Thus, an acre of sprout land may be worth only
$5, while the investment in adjoining land stocked with
old trees may be $50 an acre. This is the view which
controls the management of State forests in Germany.
Lumbermen also regard timberland as an investment,
but usually they take no care except for the yield at
the moment. They disregard the future yield alto-
gether, and in consequence the forest loses its capital
value, or may even be totally destined. Well managed
forests, on the other hand, are made to yield their
service always without endangering the future yield,
and usually to its great advantage. Like the plant of a
successful manufacturer, a forest should increase in
productiveness and value year by }Tear.

Under various circumstances, then, a forest may yield
its best return in protection, in wood, grass, or other
forest products, in money, or in interest on the capital
it represents. But whichever of these ways of using
the forest may be chosen in any given case, the funda-
mental idea in forestry is that of perpetuation by wise
use; that is, of making the forest yield the best service
possible at the present in such a way that its useful-
ness in the future will not be diminished, but rather
increased.

FOUR REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BEST SERVICE.

A forest well managed under the methods of practi-
cal forestry will yield a return in one of the ways just
mentioned. There are, however, four things a forest
mast have before it can be in condition to render the
best service.

1116—05 2

12

A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

first of thcM> i> protection, especially against
lire, overgrazing, and thieves, for without such protec-
tion no in\ otmeiit is secure ami the most skillful man-
agement is of little etl'ect.

The second is strong and abundant reproduction. A
t'oiv-t without voting growth is like a family without
children. It will speedily die out.

!•'!•.. 4.— Vigorous reproduction iiloiitf the e<lure "f ;i

(Jcnnany.

Tht- third i-e(|iiirement is a reo-ular supply of trees
ripe for the ax. This can he secured only by the
rijflit proportion of each of the smaller si/e< constantly
<)M jn the growing forest. Thus, a farmer in

REQUIREMENTS FOR THE BEST SERVICE. 13

need of fuel might be much inconvenienced to find no
trees on his woodlot big enough for cord wood, and it
would not help him to know that twenty years later he
would have an oversupply. In the same way a larger
forest may yield only a very irregular and unsatisfac-
tory product if at one time there are too many ripe
trees and at another too few. For example, if 100
acres become fit to cut this year, and 200 next year,
and after that none at all until 500 acres become ripe
fifteen years later, it is easy to see that the yield would
come at very irregu-
lar and perhaps very
inconvenient times.
But a forest of
10,000 acres, com-
posed of 100 even-
aged groups of trees
of every age from
1 to 100 vears, each

10

•

"

\Z

13

IS

16

"

18

13

20

30

29

28

26

25

24

23

22

Zl

31

32

33

4

35

36

37

38

33

40

SO

43

48

46

45

•44

43

4^

41

51

SZ

S3

4

55

56

57

58

53

60

70

63

68

66

65

64

63

62

61

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

30

83

88

87

06

85

04

83

82

81

31

32

33

34

35

36

97

38

33

100

FIG. 5.— Diagram of a forest with one hundred
even-aged compartments.

group 100 acres in
extent (see fig. 5),
would plainly be able to furnish every year 100 acres
of 100-year-old trees ready for the ax. In such a for-
est the right proportion of young trees would always
be coming on.

The fourth requirement is growing space enough for
every tree, so that the forest as a whole (see fig. 7)
may not only produce wood as fast as possible, but
the most valuable sort of wood as well. If the trees
stand too far apart, their trunks will be short and
thickly covered with branches, the lumber cut from

14

A PKIMKK OF FORKSTKY.

thtMii will be full of knots, and its value will be small.

If, on the other hand, the trees stand too closely

together, although their
trunks will be tall and clear of
branches, they will be small
in diameter, and for that
reason low in value. With
the right amount of growing
spare, trees grow both tall
and of good diameter, and
their trunks supply lumber
of higher price because it is
wide and clear.

THE YIKLI) OF A FOREST.

One of the central ideas of
forestry is that the amount of

.. ('.. — A white cedar which has
had too much Krowiutf sj:iice.
The tn-c- is lar.ire, hut full of knots.

and will yield very nttic K i Woo(l taken from any healthy

forest and the amount grown
by it should be as nearly equal
as possible. If more grows than
is cut. then the forest will be
filled with overmature, decaying
t ive>: but if more wood is cut
than is grown, then the supply
of ripe trees will be exhausted,
and the value of the forest will
decline. To make the cut equal
to the growth does not mean
that the volume of wood grown
each year on every acre should be cut from that acre,
but that the total growth of all the acres, for one or

Ki«;. 7. -Old trees which have
had the ri^ht amount of
i: row in. ij space to make
eli'an trunks und clear
luniher. (id-many.

THE YIELD OF A FOREST.

15

for a number of years, should be out from the forest
in the corresponding period. Thus, if the growth or
increase is 100 cords a year, that amount might be har-
vested yearly by cutting every tree on a small area, by
cutting fewer trees per acre on a larger area, by dis-
tributing* the cut every year over the whole surface of

FIG. 8.— Measuring an average tree. Adirondack Mountains, New York.

the forest, or by cutting 1,000 cords in any one of
these ways once in ten years.

There are many different methods of finding what
is the annual increase of wood in a forest. One of
the simplest is to count the number of trees upon an
acre and select an average tree, then to cut it down,
measure its cubic contents, and find its age by count-
ing the annual rings. That done, the yearly increase

1<> A I'KI.MKK <>F FORESTRY.

of the average tree may be found by dividing its cubic
contents by the years of its a^o. Finally, since we
have found the yearly increase per tree and the num-
ber of trees per acre, it is easy to find the average
yearly increase per acre. It is unfortunate that this
simple and easy process is not always reliable, because
it 5- hard to tind either an average acre or an average
tree!

The yield of a forest is the amount of wood that is
taken from it in a iriven time. When a forest is put
under conservative management, one of the most
important steps :> to decide how much timber can
safely bo taken from it; in other words, to deter-
mine the yield. There are three principal ways of
doing- so.

The first, and the least used, is to fix the yield at a
certain number of mature trees. By this plan the yield
of a certain forest mi^ht be 100 pines. 2(>0 spruces,
and ls<> hemlocks, each of a ^iven diameter, every
year.

The second way is to lix the yield at a certain amount
or volume of wood. Thus, the yield of a larov forest
mio-ht be tixed at lO.nnn.nnn feet board measure every
ten vear>. and that of another smaller one at 7r>o cords
• •very year.

The third way is to settle upon a certain number of
acres to be cut over yearly or once in a givon number
of years. By this method the yield of a forest of C»OO
acre- mi«rht be tixed at »J acres of mat ure 1 imher a year.

and that of another at 300 acres e very twenty-live years.

The time between two >ucces>i\e cutting on the >aine
area mu-t ho lono- enough to allow the voting trees left

THE YIELD OF A FOREST.

17

standing to mature. That time is found by studying
the rate of growth in diameter.

This method of determining the yield by area is much
the most practicable of the three for the forests of the
United States, and in general it is the simplest and
most widely useful of all, because it does away with the

FIG. 9.— A forest from which more than the yield is being taken. Big Trees in
the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.

difficult task of determining the yearly increase in
wood.

The objects in handling forests are so various that
sor .etimes no single one of these methods is satisfac-
torv, and then combinations of them are of great use.

18 \ I'RIMKK OK FORESTRY.

Thus. by combining the method by volume and the
method by area the annual yield of a forest might be
established at L^>O board feet per acre. This yield
might he cut from the forest every year, or it mio-ht
be allowed to aeeumulate for twenty years, and then
:».no() board feet per acre might be cut.

siiAirt i/n RAI. SYSTKMS.

After the yield has been found it must be cut not
only without injury to the future value of the forest,
but in such a way as to increase its safety and useful-
ness. To this end certain ways of handling forests,
called silvicultural systems, have grown up. They are
ba>ed on the nature < itself, and are chiefly

imitations of what n:> open in the forest

without their help.

From the point o •>;ement. one

of the principal dill Is whether

they spring directly t'r, 'need as

sprouts from stumps or roc. round.

A forest composed of seedling Seed

Forest, or more commonly but 1< 'ling

or High Forest. One composed '<en

of as a Sprout or Coppice Forest.

ply as Coppice, or as Sprout land. S 3 are

usually composed of coniferous li irelv

sprout, or of broadleaf trees allo\\
sixe. Sprout Forests are common w
trees are cut while they are still youn
ing power usually diminishes with age
reach BO great a height- and diameter ;
although in youth they grow much fast

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept of Agr.

PLATE IV.

FIG. 2. — SPROUT FOREST SPRINGING UP AFTER A FIRE.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

19

apt to be unsound, because the old stumps decay and
infect the sprouts which spring from them.

SIMPLE COPPICE.

It often happens, as in Pennsylvania or New Jersey,
that a fire sweeps over the second-growth hardwood
lands and kills all the young trees down to the ground;
but the roots remain alive, and from them spring
young sprouts about the bases of the burned trunks.
After several }rears a
second fire may fol-
low and kill back the
sprouts again, and
other fires may con-
tinue at intervals to
burn over the land,
each followed by a
new crop of sprouts.
When a farmer does
with the ax what is
often done by fire he
is using the system
of Simple Coppice.
Let us suppose a farmer has a woodlot covered prin-
cipallv with chestnut sprouts which he wants to man-
age for the steady production of railroad ties. He
knows that chestnut sprouts are usually large enough
for ties at the age of 35 years. In order to insure a
steady yield of trees fit for ties, he divides the whole
woodlot into thirty-five parts of equal productive
capacity, and cuts one part clean every year. All the
new sprouts that spring up on the part cut in any year

FIG. 10. — Ideal sketch map of a sprout forest
managed under the system of Simple Cop-
pice.

20 A I'RIMKR OK KORKSTRY.

are of the same aire. At the end of thirty-five years,
when the whole woodlot has been cut over, the thirty-
live part> form a series of even-a^ed oToups of sprouts

PH.. LI.— Yellow poplar sprout fun-M in Mary la ml.

from 1 to .\'t years old. Kvery year the sj)i>oiits on
part reach the a^e of :-\~> ye;irs and are ready for cult in^'.
Sini|>le Coppice is a very useful silvicultunil system,
and the ea-ic-i of all to ai>ply. The chief requirements
for it- SUCCessare ^-nod reproduction from the stumps,

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS. 21

proper thinning (where thinning can be made to pay),
and enough young seedlings among the sprouts to
replace exhausted stumps with vigorous young ones.
Stumps from which the sprouts have been cut many
times tinally grow weak and lose their power of
sprouting.

In cutting sprouts it is important not to loosen the
bark on the stumps, for that impairs their sprouting
power, and to make the cut as near the ground as pos-
sible. Stumps cut level with the surface sprout best
of all. In Simple Coppice, well handled, the repro-
duction takes place of itself without the need of fur-
ther attention from the forester.

Man}' thousands of acres of American woodland,
especially in New England, New York, Pennsylvania,
and New Jersey, and in other places where chestnut is
the principal tree, are treated under a rough system
of Simple Coppice.

STORED COPPICE.

Among the trees which will produce only fuel, fence
posts, or railroad ties there often stand in a woodlot
others which would yield much larger returns if they
were allowed to reach a greater age and size than the
trees about them. If there were some wrhite oaks scat-
tered through the chestnut coppice just described, it
might be well to let them grow large enough for the
production of high-priced material like quartered oak
lumber. In that case it would be necessary at the time
of cutting the sprouts to select and leave standing a
certain number of white oaks on every acre. As many
of them as survived the increased exposure to wind and

OF KORKSTRY.

sun following the sudden removal of their neighbors
would remain as standards over the young sprout*.
The white oak standards thus chosen would remain
uncut during two. three, t'our. or sometimes even live
successive crops of sprouts, and would form stout
trunks with little taper, clear of branches almost to the
full height reached by the sprouts.

This is the silvicultural system called Stored ( 'oppice.
or sometimes Coppice under Standards. The success
ful management of a forest under it depends largely upoi.
the choice of the standards. They should he seedlings,
for seedlings make the best trees, or the most vigorous
and healthy sprouts if seedlings can not be found, and
they should be distributed as regularly as possible over
the ground. The standards should be numerous enough
at first to allow for heavy loss from wind and shock
when the sprouts are cut away, but they should never
be allowed to suppress the lower story of growth.

Stored Coppice is a very useful system where the
principal demand is for small material, like fuel, ties.
and fencing, but where some large timber also is
required. It was developed chiefly by the French, who
u-e it with admirable results.

M:I:I> oi; uniii KOKKST.

By far the most useful and important, forests are, as
a rule, those which spring directly from seed, such as
the pine forests of the Southern States, and the great
hardwood forests of the Mississippi Valley. Such
I'on-N are called Seed Forests. The Seed Fore.*t 3J8-
teni- are of many kinds, some of which are peculiarly
adapted for the management of certain forest* in the

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept of Agr.

PLATE V.

SEED FOREST OF LONGLEAF PINE IN FLORIDA.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

United States. Just as the Sprout Forest systems are
chiefly useful to produce fuel, posts, ties, and trees of
small size, so the Seed Forest systems are producers
of sawlogs and large timbers.

REGULAR SEED FOREST.

When a tract of woodland is destroyed by fire in one
of the Rocky Mountain States, it often happens that

FIG. 12.— Seed forest of lodgepole pine in Idaho.

the seeds of the lodgepole pine are scattered over it by
the wind in prodigious numbers. The seeds germinate
abundantly, seedlings spring up, and in a very few
3Tears a young even-aged forest of lodgepole pine
1116—05 3

1}4 A I'RIMKR OF FOKKSTKY.

covers the ground. As it grows older fires destroy
patches of it here and there, and in time every patch
is covered again with a younger generation of even
age. After many years the forest which sprang up
after the first fire has become broken into a number of
even-aged patches without uniformity in size or regular
gradations in age.

Now let us suppose that this land was taken in hand
by the Government when the lodgepole pine first came
in, and that the lodgepole reaches its maturity at 80
years. If the Government forest officers had divided
such a forest into eighty parts, and then had cut the
timber from one part each year, after a time they
would have had eighty divisions, each covered with
even-aged forest, but differing in age among them-
selves from 1 to 80 years. Every }Tear one part would
reach the age of 80 years and would be cut, and evi-
dently the other seventy- nine parts would always be
stocked with trees from 1 to 79 years old.

When the trees on one of the eighty divisions just
mentioned become ripe for the ax, provision must bo
made for a new crop. This would be a very simple
matter if the forest on that division could be repro-
duced naturally in one year, but that is practically
impossible. Such rapid reproduction can be got only
by planting, which is chiefly useful in the United
States for making new forests and restoring injured
forests, not for renewing old ones. Reproduction
from the seed of the old trees is the only kind we need
consider here. In order to bring it about a few ripe
trees are first cut down, to prepan- a >eedhed by giv-
ing light to the soil, and to fit the seed trees to bear

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

BEFORE CUTTING

PLATE VI.

K ' "W

P- •>rn

[*• 'JTTTt

rrt» -^TT

1
•£»

*n

I 1

^trr- '-Trn

77T-

1. ^

rrrn-

PO 20 30 40 50 60 70

AFTER CUTTING

30 40 50

AFTER 40 YEARS

As"e 60

AFTER 60 YEARS

60 YT».

DIAGRAM TO REPRESENT THE PROGRESS OF CUTTING IN REGULAR SEED FOREST.
Each tree represents one even-aged division. Only one division in ten is represented.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS. 25

more abundantly by giving the crowns more room.
Then, when a good crop of seed is likely to appear, a
few more trees are removed to give the future seed-
lings light enough for healthy growth, but not enough
to expose them to danger from frost, drought, or the
choking of grass and weeds, for young trees just start-

FIG. 13. — Mixed forest in process of gradual reproduction. Sihlwald,
Switzerland.

ing in life are very sensitive and easily destroyed.
Finall}7, as the }^oung trees grow taller and stronger,
what remains of the old crop is gradually cut away.
When it is all gone, usually from ten to twenty years
have passed since the reproduction cuttings were
begun.

A I'RIMKR OF KORKSTKY.

This is the system of Regular Seed Forest. It is
difficult to apply. ;md unsafe except in experienced
hands. It has often been necessary to plant lar^e areas
at ^reat expense because reproduction cuttings in

:

Ki«-. 11.— Reproduction obtained by process shown in iig. 13. Sihhvald,
Switzerland.

ular Seed Forest have failed. The transportation of

the timber is frequently expensive, because it must
be -pivad over a number of years. On the other
hand, when it is well applied this system produces the

SILVICULTUBAL SYSTEMS. 27

highest type of forest, full of tall straight trunks clear
of branches, and consequently yields a high grade of
timber and a large return in money.

TWO-STORIED SEED FOREST.

After a forest fire in Maine it frequently happens
that the first tree to cover the ground is the popple, or
quaking aspen. It is a slender, short-lived tree, intol-
erant of shade, with a light crown. After the popple
has grown for some years, spruce seedlings spring up
under the friendly cover, and rapidly follow the popple
in height. There grows up in this way a forest com-
posed of an upper and a lower story of growth, in
which, as so often happens, the lower story is of more
importance.

The system of Two-Storied Seed Forest is useful
when a tolerant tree like the spruce is to be grown
under the shade of an intolerant tree like the aspen.
In countries where forestry is well developed it is
usual to plant young trees of tolerant species under
older intolerant trees, to make a cover for the soil and
to prevent the growth of grass and weeds. Forests
which closely resemble two-storied seed forests are
common in the United States, but usually as the result
of fire or careless cutting. Such are, for example, the
forests of pine over oak in the Southeastern United
States, and of birch, beech, and maple under white
pine in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. It often
happens, as in the case of the spruce and aspen, that
both stories can not live on in good health together,
and that the upper one must die or be cut away if the
lower is to prosper.

28

A PKiMKR OF FOKKSTKY.

SKl.Kt TIoN 1 ••<>!; I-IVI1.

When ;i Mand of aspen dies away from a young1 crop
of spruce, tin1 ground is no longer completely shaded,

!•'!«-. !.">.— YoiniK urowtli »\ spruce uini.T nldrr .^nnvtli of ]'o].plc. Coloni<lo.

and there is lio-ht and room for other kinds of trees to
come in. Tim-, hirch and maple M-cds \u-.\y he Mown

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE VII.

MIXED SELECTION FOREST IN THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS.

SILVICULTUKAL SYSTEMS.

29

in by the wind and beechnuts carried and planted
by squirrels, and eventually the pure stand of spruce
is changed into a mixed forest of various ages. As the
trees grow older, some of the spruce may be destroyed
by beetles or thrown by the wind, and some of the
broadleaf trees may die from fungous disease. Into
the openings made by the death of older members of

FIG. 16. — Lodgepole pine and western larch
in selection forest. Northern Idaho.

the forest fall the seeds from which younger members
spring. So little by little the forest loses its even-aged
character and there comes into existence what is called
a Natural or Selection Forest, in which trees of all
ages are everywhere closely mixed together. Most
virgin forests are selection forests.

30

A PRIMKR OF FORKSTRY.

Fn;. 17.— Mimic pure sdrrtion forest, showing
the mixture of a,u< -.

The silvicultural system called Pure Selection is ap-
plied to forests of this kind. It is used chiefly for
protection forests in places where it is desirable to
keep the coyer always unbroken: elsewhere it is out

of place. Under this
system the annual in-
crease of the forest
must be found before

the yield can be deter-
mined. (See ]). l.V)
Then the fully mature
trees are cut in every
part of the t'orol
every year. The cost
of 1 oo-u- ing is high, f o r
where .single trees are taken here and there, roads or
other means of transport must be yery numerous and
costly in proportion to the amount of the cut.

l.nCAI.I/KD SKI.KCTIOX.

Logging under the system just mentioned is so ex-
pensive a- to prevent its application in the Tinted
States, except for WOOds like cherry and black walnut,
which have a special and unusual value. But if. instead
of taking the yield from every part of a selection for-
est, a comparatively small area is cut over each year.
the cost of logging may be very greatly reduced. Such
a method is admirably adapted to certain forest regions
in the Tinted States, as. for example, to the Adiron-
dack Mountains of New York, where the forest is com-
about equally of coniferous and broadleaf tree-.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

31

The conifers are the more valuable, and among them
the principal lumber tree is the spruce.

The Bureau of Forestry has found by many careful
measurements that if all spruce trees 12 inches and
over in diameter are cut from certain portions of the
Adirondack forest, the younger spruce will grow up
and replace the original stand of timber in about
twenty years. But this will not happen unless the

FIG. 18.— Natural forest resembling Localized Selection. Southern Oregon.

rules for cutting are faithfully observed, nor will it
happen more than once unless enough old trees are
left standing for seed. Such a forest may then be
divided into twenty parts, and the merchantable timber
about 12 inches in diameter may safely be cut from one
division every year. By the time the last of the twenty
divisions has been cut over, the first will have upon it
a stand of mature spruce equal in quantity to that of

32

A PRIMER OK FORESTRY.

twenty years before. The yield of the whole forest in
spruce for a single year may he cut each year from
one-twentieth of the whole area. If all the divisions
were cut over five times in the life of a mature tree,
then one-fifth of the standing timber would be taken

FIG. 19.— Group of spruce under beech. (Jcrmany.

from each division at each cutting. Thus, if it took
one hundred years for a tree to become ripe for the ax,
the cutting (at intervals of twenty years) would return
five times during the life of the tree, at its twentieth,

fortieth, -ixtietli. eightieth, and one hundredth year-.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

33

This is the system of Localized Selection. It is sim-
ple and easy to apply, and even if mistakes occur they
are not apt to have dangerous consequences. It is very
elastic and has many forms, and it is well adapted to
many different kinds of forest. Logging is cheap,
because the area cut over in an}r one year is small, and
the reproduction is provided for by natural seeding
in the openings of the forest.

THE GROUP SYSTEM.

It often happens that all the trees of a small group
in the forest are killed by fire or insects at about the
same time. In the
opening thus made
the ground is quick-
ly covered with
young growth,
which extends back
under the old trees
as far as the light
will permit. The
seedlings are usually
tallest, strongest, and
most numerous directly under the middle of the open-
ing, and gradually decrease at the sides. If the wind
should throw some trees at the edges of such an open-
ing, the }roung growth would gradually extend, and if
the same thing should continue to happen, in the end
all the old trees would have disappeared and their
places would have been taken by young growth. The
Group System is an imitation of this process.

FIG. 20. — Mimic orest, showing distribution of
young growth under the Group System.

.'»4 \ I'KIMKK OF FOKKSTKY.

l/nder the (inmp System openings are made here
and there in the forest by cutting away rip*1 trees. As
the reproduction proceeds, the old trees about the
openings are gradually cut away, and the groups of
young growth, spreading from the original openings
like drops of oil on water, finally meet.

FIG. 21.— Large group of young plantorl oak. Sir Dietrich Hrandis and the
English forest students of 1890. Germany.

This is one of the simplest and most useful of all the
system-, and when the openings are made small at first

no other is so safe. It is especially adapted to small
pieces of forest, such as woodlots. because it is simple,
and beeau-e it a>sures the safety of the forest even with
very little skill or care on the part of the owner.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

THE STRIP SYSTEM.

35

In nearly every wooded region of the United States
a tornado occasionally destroys the trees in a long and
narrow belt through the forest. Fire often follows
and clears the strip by burning up the fallen timber.
Seeds then fall in the opening, carried from the trees
on either side, the seeds germinate and grow, and the
reproduction of the forest takes place.

FIG. 22.— Spruce managed under the Strip System. Southern Russia.

\Vhen the ax takes the place of the tornado and the
timber is logged instead of being burned, the Strip
System is applied. Reproduction follows from trees
on either side, as before. The Strip System consists in
cutting long narrow openings in the mature timber
instead of the circular openings of the Group System,
to which it is similar in many ways. It is simple and
effective when natural reproduction is good, and well
suited for extensive operations in places where careful
1116—05 4

A I'RIMFR OF FORESTRY.

work is impossible. Tin* strips arc usually not over
inn yards in width. Where the soil is dry, they are
run east and west to protect the young growth against
the sun. and are comparatively narrow. If there is
serious danger of windfall, they lie at right angles to
the direction of the wind.

These are the more important of the silvicultural
svsn-ms. They have many modifications, and indeed
each forest may require a special form of its own,
which must be devised or adapted for it by the forester.
But whatever the form, the object is always to use the
forest and provide for its future at the same time.

IMI'KOVKMKXT CUTTINGS.

Very many forests in the United States, and espe-
cially many woodlots, are in poor condition and unfit
for the immediate application of any silvicultural sys-
tem. They need to be put in order, and for that pur-
pose Improvement Cuttings are usually required. In
the end these cuttings should remove all trees which
the forest is better without, but they should be made
gradually, so as not to open the cover too much and
expose the soil to the wind and the sun. In general,
it is unwise to cut more than 25 per cent of the poles
and older trees in a dense mature forest, or tocutoftener
on the same ground than once in live years. Improve-
ment Cuttings of course should never fall on trees
which are to form the future crop, but they should
remove Spreading older trees over promising young
growth; poor trees which are crowding more valuable
Ones; unbound trees whose places will he taken by

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE VIII.

A MIXED FOREST IN NEED OF AN IMPROVEMENT CUTTING.
The crooked old chestnut in particular should be removed

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE IX.

A MIXED FOREST AFTER AN IMPROVEMENT CUTTING.

SILVICULTURAL SYSTEMS.

37

others of greater value, or which are themselves be-
coming less valuable from year to year; and seed trees
of undesirable species likely to reproduce themselves,
if reproduction of more useful kind is well assured.
The great majority of woodlots need such cutting, and
Avhen they do, whatever wood is taken from them should
be cut in this wav.

CHAPTER II.
WORK IN THE WOODS.

The products of the forest are among the things
which civilized men can not do without. Wood is
needed for building, for fuel, for paper pulp, and for
unnumbered other uses, and trees must be cut down to
supply it. It would be both useless and mistaken to
try to stop the cutting of timber, for it could not cease
without great injury, not to the lumbermen only, but
to all the people of the nation. The question is not
of saving the trees, for everv tree must inevitably die,
but of saving the forest by conservative ways of cut-
ting the trees. If the forest is to be preserved, the
timber crop now ripe must be gathered in such a way
as to make sure of other crops hereafter.

In general, it is true that the present methods of
lumbering are unnecessarily destructive and wasteful.
This is not because lumbermen are more greedy of
gain or less careful of public interests than other busi-
ness men, for they are not. It happen- partly because
in this country, compared with France and Germany
and other densely populated regions, then4 is so much
timber in proportion to the population that it does not
pay the, lumberman to take anything more than the
better parts of the trees he fells. The lumberman can
not do hi- work unless lie does it at a profit, and he
38

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING. 39

must do it, for lumber is indispensable. Conse-
quently, although much of the waste in lumbering
is not only unnecessary, but actually costly to the
lumberman, for the present it is impossible to avoid
waste altogether. It will be easier to do so when the
methods and advantages of conservative lumbering,
which is forestry, are better known to the American
lumbermen, and are therefore in more general use.
Although rough conservative methods have often been
practiced in the past, the success of the lumbermen
who made the trial was generally but partial, because
their knowledge of the forest was partial also. They
were often deceived by underestimates of the capacity
for tree growth of the lands they were handling,
because accurate measurements were wanting, and
they seldom made full use of the reproductive power
of the forest. More recent attempts, based on better
knowledge, have been successful in almost every case.
Lumbermen in America are second to none in skill
and ingenuit}T, in the perfection of their tools, and in
the effectiveness of the methods they have devised.
The nations of Europe, although they have given far
more attention to forestry than we, are very much
behind the United States in these respects. So it
is not surprising that Americans have been slow to
change their methods, especially when methods and
lumbermen alike have often been attacked as wrongly
and intemperately as the foreign methods have been
praised and recommended. German methods would be
as much out of place in America as American meth-
ods in Germany. What American foresters should do
and are doing is to combine the general principles of

40

A I'KIMKK OF KOKKSTKY.

forestry, which arc- true all the world over, with Ameri-
can methods of lumbering. The product will l>e a
system of forestry especially adapted to the United
States. The foundations of such a s\ stein are already
laid.

roNSKKN ATIVK LUMBERING.

Something was said in the last chapter about the sys-
tematic methods of conservative lumbering. With the

'.—Logging of great iiK-rlianinil perfection aiiioiii,' the Hi.ir Tivrs of
California.

o-radual understanding and application of these methods
l»v American Lumbermen, already well he^un. and with
the work in the woods rightly carried out, there is hut
one reason why the o-reat majority of the forests now
in the I'nited State- -hoiild not in the end

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING. 41

be lumbered steadily and systematically, or why they
should fail to yield a steadily increasing return. That
reason is the rapid destruction of the forests them-
selves. There is grave danger that the best of our
forests will all be gone before their protection and
perpetuation by wise use can be begun. The spread of
a working knowledge of practical forestry is likely to
be too slow.

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING AND ORDINARY LUMBERING.

Conservative lumbering is distinguished from ordi-
nary lumbering in three ways:

First. The forest is treated as a working capital
whose purpose is to produce successive crops.

Second. With that purpose in view, a working plan
is prepared and followed in harvesting the forest crop.

Third. The work in the woods is carried on in such
a way as to leave the standing trees and the }Toung
growth as nearly unharmed by the lumbering as pos-
sible.

A forest working plan is intended to give all the in-
formation needed to decide upon and carry out the best
business policy in handling and perpetuating a forest.
It gives this information in the form of a written state-
ment, which covers some or all of the following topics.
It shows the present stand and condition of the forest,
and gives rules for the selection and marking of trees
to cut, for making the reproduction sure, and for the
protection of young and old standing trees during
the logging. The working plan also predicts the
future yield of the forest, basing its prediction on
careful measurements which show how many standing

4kJ A 1'RIMFi; OF FORFSTRV.

trees of different diameters will be left per acre after
the first cutting, and how fast these young trees grow.
Finally, it estimates the future return in money, taking
into account the taxes, interest, and other expenses on
one side, and the future crop on the other. In order to

make this estimate
entirely safe, it is
usually based on the
present price of
stumpage. although
its future value will
certainly be much
higher.

FKLT.IN<; TIIK TKKKS.

The difference be-
tween the practical
work under ordinary
lumbering and under
conservative lumber-
ing is chiefly in the
selection of the trees
to cut, in felling
them, and in the first

•oeu, TZSL^ZTY:™ part of their journey

from the stump to

the mill. I'nder a working plan the trees to cut are
chosen in such a way that when they are gone the for-
cM will Miller but little from their absence, because
their places \\ill be taken by others as quickly as pos-
sible. I'snally the trees Delected are first stamped
with a marking hatchet to prevent mistakes, and then
the next -tep is to cut them down.

24. — Government forester niarkiiiK trees

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING.

43

The amount of harm done to the forest by the cut-
ting depends considerably upon the season of the year
when the work in the woods is carried on. Less
damage results to the young growth and the trees left
standing if the lumbering is done after the growing
season is over than if it goes on in the spring and sum-
mer, while the bark is loose and the leaves and twigs
are tender.

FIG. 25.— Low stumps in logging.

A tree may be felled either with the ax or with the
saw. In either case the first thing to consider is the
height above the ground at which the cut is to be
made. High stumps needlessly waste the best timber
in a sound tree. Low stumps are slightly more diffi-
cult to cut, and therefore a little more expensive, but
the additional cost is more than balanced by the gain.

44 A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

The measurements made by the Bureau of Forest ry
have shown that the loss from cutting high stumps on
a tract of loo.ooO acres in the Adirondacks, yielding
on an average L."> standards per acre, would be 30.000
standards, or at a stumpage value of 50 cents per stand-
ard, would be $15,000.

FIL. 'JC>. — I'mtcctioii ot' yonnfj growth in l<i?,rsrinj;. Biltmoiv. N. ('.

The second thing to consider in felling a tree is how
to get it down without breaking or splitting the trunk.
On rocky, uneven ground this is often a hard thing
to do. but unlessitcan be accomplished the tree would.
B£ a rule, better be left untouched.

Most important of all for the perpetuation of the
forest, each tree must be thrown where it will not
unncer— arily injure other trees or cn\<\\ in its fall the
young seedling> on which the future of the foresf

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr

PLATE X.

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING IN THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS, NEW YORK.
Note the height of the stump.

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr

PLATE XI.

WASTEFUL LUMBERING ON THE PACIFIC SLOPE.
'Note the height of the stump.

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING.

45

depends. It happens very commonly in ordinary lum-
bering that vigorous, sound young trees are split and
ruined in great numbers by old trees falling upon them,
when it would be perfectly easy, and almost or quite as
convenient, to throw the latter where they would do
little or no harm.

FIG. 27. — Sawing fir into logs. Washington.

Finally, it must cost as little as possible to fell each
tree, for to be successful conservative lumbering must
pay.

SWAMPING AND SAWING.

When the trees are down, their lower branches are
chopped off and the trunks are sawed into logs. In
falling, a tree is very apt to bend and hold down

A 1'RIMKR OF FORESTRY.

beneath its trunk and branches many younger trees,

which will sprino- up
. straight ao-ainifthey

^f^Mf* M * 1 1 1 1

arc quickly released,
but which otherwise
will be killed or
permanently h u rt .
Therefore it is very
important to work
up both the trunk
and the top of each
tree as soon as it is cut down, and so prevent it from

ig Tree. California.

FIG. 29.— Spruce railway. Adirondack M"u

\v York.

injr the youno- trees which should take its place.
Except when they are to be burned, even the branches

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING. 47

of tops which can not be used should ordinarily be cut
away enough to let the tops sink close to the ground,
where they will rot as speedily as possible. Dry
crowns propped clear of the ground by their branches
rot slowly, burn fiercely, and are very dangerous in
case of fire. (See PL I.)

FIG. 30. — Skidding with oxen. Washington.
SKIDDING.

When the trunks have been sawed into logs, the lat-
ter are dragged away by horses, mules, or oxen, or in
some cases by a long wire rope which is wound on
the drum of a donkey engine. This is called "skid-
ding the logs." In this wa}r they are collected in piles
called "roll ways," or assembled in "yards," or other-
wise made ready for the next step in their progress to
the mill.

A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

Care is needed in skidding not to rub or tear the bark
from valuable standing trees, or to break the young
growth down, for much harm is <|iiickly done in this
way. Promising young trees are often cut because it
is easier to use them for corduroy or skids, or for other
purposes in the logging than to take others less straight

building. Adirondack

Mountains, Ni-w York.

oi- le» conveniently at hand, or because they are some-
what in the way. or even from habit, when it would
really be easier to let them alone. A very little care in
pre^ervin^1 yoiino- o-rowth makes an astonishing ditl'er-
enee in the future value of a 1'orest.

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE XII.

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE xill.

WIRE-ROPE SKIDDING. WASHINGTON.

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING.

TRANSPORTATION.

After the skidding, the logs may be transported to
the sawmill in many different ways. Sometimes they
are loaded on sleds and
drawn over carefully made
ice roads to a logging rail-
road or to the bank of a
stream. When the stream is
not swift or deep enough to
carry the logs of itself, splash
dams are built, in which
great quantities of water are
held back for a time. (See
PI. XV.) When such a dam is opened the water is set
free, and great numbers of logs may be driven far down

FIG. 32. — Logging white cedar by
team. New Jersev.

FIG. 33.— Logging by rail. Sierra Nevada Mountains, California.

the stream by the sudden flood. In larger streams the
logs are sometimes made into rafts, or they may be

50

A PRIMKK OK FOKKSTKY.

driven singly down the river. The log drivers who do
this work loani to balance themselves on the floating,
rolling logs, and walk on them almost as easily as on
the solid ground. Sometimes locomotives drag the
logs behind them over the ties, or they are hauled on
cars which run over poles cut in the woods instead of

!•'!<;. ',',{.— \ sawmill. lo.t,r pond, and lumber yard. Northern California.

over metal rails: often they are rolled into slides built
of other logs, and either move downhill by their own
weight or are dragged along by horses, cattle, or steam,
In southern swamps the logs are sometimes swung up
by a wire rope suspended from the trees, and so are
loaded on the great flatboat which carries them to the
mill.

24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE XIV.

FIG. 1. — HAULING LOBLOLLY PINE. SOUTH CAROLINA.

FIG. 2. — RIVER DRIVERS AT WORK ON A LOG JAM. MINNESOTA.

Jul 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dent of Agr.

PLATE XV.

FIG. 1. — INTERIOR OF A SPLASH DAM. NORTH CAROLINA.

Fn. 2.— LOGS IN THE Si

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING.

51

AT THE MILLS.

At the mills the logs are cut into lumber by various
kinds of saws. Of these the circular saw is still very
widely used, although the wide bite or kerf which it
cuts in the log makes it very wasteful of timber. A
large circular saw makes a kerf a quarter of an inch
wide, so that in cutting four one-inch boards enough
wood to make a fifth board is ripped into sawdust.
Band saws are far less wasteful, for they are thinner

FIG. 35.— Circular saws (edgers) in a Puget Sound .sawmill.

and make a narrower kerf. Hence they are taking the
place of the circular saws, although they do not work so
rapidly. Man}' mills, in addition to their band saws or
circulars, use gang saws, which cut out several boards
at the same time.

Besides lumber the best sawmills produce great quan-
tities of lath and shingles, made either from small logs
called "bolts," cut specialty for that purpose, or from
slabs, edgings, and other pieces of wood which might
otherwise be wasted. But in spite of every effort to
prevent waste in the mill, by using sawdust and other
1116—05 6

52

A I'RIMKR OF FORFSTRY.

refuse for fuel, and in other ways, very many thousands
of tons of wood a year are thrown into ^reat burners as
the cheapest method of ovtting- it out of the way.

When the lumber has been s^wed it may be piled
and seasoned in the yard or kiln dried before it is
sent to market or sold at the mill. Some sawmills on

Fi<;. :;»;. — A baml sa\v. Virginia.

Sound are 'milt on piles over the water, so that
the lumber is loaded into vessels directly from the saws.
( )thers load their product on the cars and distribute it
by rail. Still others on the Pacific slope float their
timber away in a narrow wooden trough called a Hume,
through which Hows a rapid stream of water. (See

Bui. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept of Agr.

PLATE XVI.

jl. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE XVII.

FIG. 2. — THE FLUME IN THE MOUNTAINS. CALIFORNIA.

CONSERVATIVE LUMBERING.

53

PI. XVII.) These flumes are sometimes over 40 miles
in length, and cost almost as much to build as a rail-
road. Many sawmills have connected with them plan-
ing mills or woodworking factories of other kinds, so
that the rough lumber from their saws is changed into
the form of a finished product before it reaches the
market.

WASTE IX LUMBERING.

This is very briefly the way in which a tree gets into
the market at the end of its life. At every step there
is some waste. Although it may be sound throughout,
the lumbermen in the woods can take but a portion of
it, often leaving a part
of the trunk and all of
the top to rot on the
ground. When each
log comes to the saw
there is a further loss
of nearly all the slabs
and edgings and all the
sawdust that is not
used for fuel. On the
average it is doubtful
whether more than half
of the cubic contents
of a standing tree is
finally used. As prices rise and as conservative lum-
bering comes to be generally practiced, the greater
part of this enormous loss will be avoided, but it can
probably never cease altogether.

I I Boards c- '---

Fi<;. 37.— Diagram to show the
of a log.

54

A PRIMER <>K FORESTRY.

PLANTING.

It has often been proposed to plant trees in order to
repair the damauv done to the forests by the lumber-
men. Tree planting is most useful in all the treeless or
si-jintily wooded portions of our country where planted

Ft'.. 88.— A Fnropean larch krr»ve in western
Mill iie-ut a. Cu-t of plan tiiiy per acre 17 years
I.I.".. I'resent value per acn

trees will <rn>w. and wherever forests have been very
-eveivly injured or dest royed. but it is o-enerally far too
e\pcn>ive to take the ])laee of eonservat i ve, bimberino-

in regions already t'ore>te<l. An a<-i-e of o-rowin^ natui-al
foi-e-t <-an be boiio-ht in neai'ly every forested part of

PLANTING.

55

our country for less than it would cost to plant, 4 feet
apart, an acre of seedlings a few inches high. The
true way to save the forests is not to plant new ones,
but to protect and rightly use those which are standing
now. The extension of the forest to regions which
are without it is a most important task, but it must
not be confounded with the conservative use of the
forests now standing. For such use there is no sub-
stitute whatever.

CHAPTER III.

THE WEATHER AND THE STREAMS.

The central point of public interest in forestry in the
United States was until recently the influence of for-
ests <>n climate. It is natural that the connection be-
tween the immense forests and vast plains and the won-
derfully various climates of this continent should have
awakened attention. It is a matter which is easily
written and talked about without any thorough un-
derstanding1 of forestry itself, and in this it differs
from other branches of the subject, In dealing with
the weather it touches a thing which atl'ects the daily
life of everyone, and which, to very many, holds the
balance between poverty and prosperity. It is there-
fore unfortunate that so much of the writing and talk-
ing upon this branch of forestry has had little1 definite
fact or trustworthy observation In-hind it. The friends
and the enemies of the forest have both said more than
they could prove. Both have tried to establish the
truth of their opinions by referring to observation- of
temperature and rainfall which cover too short a time
to prove anything, or by hearsay and general impres-
sions, which are not to be trusted in such matter-.
Such dix-iissioiis make nothing cleai except that the
pith of the matter has not been reached by either partv.

FOREST INFLUENCE ON CLIMATE. 57

FORESTS AND CLIMATE.

The discussion of forest influence on climate began
in this way. When the French revolution broke out
in 1789, the old restrictions on the management of pri-
vate forests were done away. A wholesale cutting of
these timberlands promptly followed, and as early as
1792 the consequences began to be observed. The
question of forests and climate was then raised for the
first time; but questions of this kind can not be an-
swered without long and careful observations. Such
observations were begun by Becquerel in France and
Krutsch in Germany about the middle of the last cen-
tury, but it was not until 1867 that a satisfactory way
of making them was devised. This was the system of
double stations — one within the forest, the other at a
distance in the open. It was first put in operation by
Professor Ebermayer, now of the Bavarian Forest
School. By this means the amount of moisture and
heat in the forest may be compared with that in the
open, and in the end a full and satisfactory answer will
probably be reached.

In order to find how great the influence of forests on
climate ma}" be, we must first see what are the factors
which make climate. Then we may ask which of these
factors can be affected by the forest, and in what way.

The climate of any place on the earth's surface re-
sults from the action of the sun's heat upon it. Climate
is the average condition of the weather. It depends,
first of all, on the distance of a place from the equator
and its elevation above the sea. Secondly, it depends
on the distribution of land and water, the relief of the

58

A PRIMER OF FORKSTRY.

land, whether flat, hilly. or mountainous, and the Char-
acter of the surface covering. These an1 all connected
with the temperature in a special manner. Lastly, it
is affected l>y the winds and the moisture of the atmos-
phere. Now. it is clear that of all these factors of
climate the forest can influence only the wind, the
moisture, and the >urface covering; hut heat (with

KM;. 3(J.— The fon-st cover.

which the surface covering has so much to do), mois-
ture. and wind are the three things which change when
We siy that the weather changes. The>e are just the
points where a change due to the forest would have
most etl'ect on daily life. The intluence of the forest
i- exerted upon them in two ways:

Fiist. The fore-t cover intercept^ the rain and the
rays of the >un. eheek* the movement <>f the air. and
reduce> the radiation of heat at

EFFECT OF FORESTS ON TEMPERATURE.

59

Second. The waste from the trees and from certain
plants which grow only in their shade forms the forest
floor, which has much to do with the movement of
water on the ground and within it. The influence of

FIG. 40.— The forest floor. Idaho.

the forest cover and the forest floor appears in the
temperature of the air, the evaporation of water, the
rainfall, and the course of the rain water after it has
reached the earth.

EFFECT OF FOREST COVER OX TEMPERATURE.

So far as the influence of the forest is concerned, the
temperature of the air is affected chiefly by the forest
cover. The leaves, which compose the greater part of

(>() A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

tin- cover, contain from .">(> to 7<> per cent of water.
More heat i> required to raise the temperature of a
pound of water one degree than for a pound of almost
any other substance, and so it happens that hare soil
or rock exposed to the rays of the sun becomes
heated many times faster than the water in the leave-*.
While the heated rock or soil was warming the air
about it the forest cover would still be absorbing heat
and keeping- the air below it cool. The leaves of the
rover also tend to cool the air by transpiration, which
is the evaporation of water from the leaves. This is
true because heat is required to change .water into
water vapor, and a part of the sun's heat is taken up
for this purpose. In these two ways the forest cover
acts somewhat like a surface of water.

The growth of the tree itself also helps to cool the
air. When the leaves take carbonic-acid gas from the
air they break it up and force its carbon into new
chemical compounds, which are then stored away as
new material in the4 tree. So with water and the other
substances upon which the plant feeds. But the ele-
ments are less at ease in these new compounds, and
heat is required to force them to make the change.
When we burn wood for fuel we are simply getting back
again the heat which was used to bring about this change.
So we may say roughly that the air about the tree dur-
ing its lifetime has been deprived of as much heat as
would be given oil' if the whole tree were burned.

The effect of the cooler air of the forest is felt to
some distance in the open count ry. During the day.
in calm summer weather, when the air is warmer than
the tree top-, it Is gradually COOled by contact with the

EXTREMES OF HEAT AND COLD. 61

cooler leaves and twigs. In cooling it becomes heavier
and falls toward the ground. A rising current of
warmer air is formed to supply its place, and so the
colder air flows off' along the surface into the open
country and causes local breezes. At night the air
currents are reversed. The air in the forest is then
warmer than the air outside, because the cover checks
the radiation of heat, and so the colder air moves from
the open country toward the woods. In these wa}Ts
the influence of the forest is felt at a distance.

The amount of this cooling of the air has been meas-
ured in certain places. It is naturally found to be
greatest in summer; while in winter and at night the
air in the tree tops is a little warmer than in the open.
It is important to add that the cooling effect of the forest
is greater than the average in the mountains, and less
in the plains.

EXTREMES OF HEAT AND COLD.

The extremes of heat and cold are moderated by the
forest. Observations on this point have been made, for
example, in Bavaria and Wurttemberg. They showed
that the lowest temperature of every day in the year
was higher, on an average, by nearly 2° in the forest,
while the highest temperature was lower by nearly -±c.
The greatest heat of the day in the summer was 7t°
less in the forest than outside. Prussian observations
showed that for ten }Tears the greatest heat of the day
in July was, on an average, nearly 6° lower in the
forest, and the greatest cold of the night in January
nearly 3° less than outside. It should not be forgotten
that the latitude, the elevation, and the exposure had a

b-j A rui.MKR OF FORFSTRY.

powerful influence on these differences, which arc also
greatly a fleeted by the kind of trees and the density of
the forest.

It must l>e borne distinctly in mind that the figures
yiven above are reliable only for the places in central
Kurope where they were observed. But the principles
on which they depend are just as true in America as
they are in Kurope. Natural laws are the same the
world over. It is safe to conclude, then, that in the
I'nited States the forest modifies the temperature of
the air in certain ways and for certain reasons, both of
which we have seen. Just how o-reat this influence is
in different parts of this continent it is as yet impos-
sible to tell. But it is probably greater on the average
than these observations indicate, for two reasons:
First, the extremes of heat and cold, moisture and
dryness. arc much o-reater here than in central Kurope.
and changes are more sudden; second, in most of the
double stations mentioned above the station outside the
forest was within less than a mile of it, and thus likely
to be influenced by the cooler air currents flowing from
it: that is. the real etl'ect of the presence or absence of
woods over laro-e stretches of country is probably
greater than these observations show.

A -ystem introduced in Austria is expected to yive
a clearer idea of the distance to which the forest influ-
ence reaches. It consists of lines of stations beginning
in the center of a la rye forest and extending >tep by
-tcp into the open country beyond.

MolsTl Ki; IN FnKFsT AIR.

The moisture of the air is greater in the forest than
ouNide. The absolute (plant it y < >f water vapor in a

EVAPORATION. 63

cubic foot of air is generally the same in both places,
but the forest air is cooler, and therefore its relative
humidity is greater. Relative humidity is the amount
of vapor actually in the air, expressed as so much per
cent of all it could hold at the same temperature. The
amount of water that the air can hold changes when
the temperature changes, but in such a way that air
cooled until it is onl}7 half as warm as before can hold
much less than half as much vapor. If a hot and a
cold stream of air, both saturated with water vapor,
meet and mix, the mixture can no longer hold as much
vapor as the two streams separatery, and a part is con-
densed, usually in the form of rain or snow. German
and Swiss observations have shown that the average
humidity is greater in the forest by from 8 to 10 per
cent. This difference increases with the altitude above
sea level and the density of the forest cover. The in-
crease of humidity explains why dew is more frequent
in the neighborhood of the forest than at a distance.

EVAPORATION.

The Avater which falls to the earth from the atmos-
phere had first to be eAraporated, so that year by year
the quantity of water which the air takes from the sur-
face of the globe by evaporation is the same as that
which falls upon it in the shape of rain, hail, snow, and
dew. The effect of the forest on this great movement
of water is to detain more of it on those portions of the
earth which are sheltered by trees. It does this partly
by tending to increase the rainfall, but its effect in less-
ening the loss of water through evaporation is prob-
ably much more important. The colder and moister
1116 — 05 7

(>4 A I'RIMFK OF FORESTRY.

air of the forest has less capacity for taking up water
vapor than that of the open country. It is also qui-
eter, which means that the winds are less active in
replacing saturated air with air which can still take up
more water. The forest acts powerfully in checking
the force of the winds because the elastic swaying of
the twi^s and branches is a very effective hindrance to

FK.. II.— A \vin<ll>iv;ik. C;ilit'«>nii:i.

the niovenientof the air. Strong winds, although they
are often dangerous in themselves, do most harm by
(Irving u]) the moisture in the soil and in the plants
which L;TOW from it. Thousands of miles of wind-
breaks have been planted by fanners in the western
parN of tins country to protect their crops and homes
against the wind. 'These windbreak- serve a most use-
ful purpose, but they are naturally far less Hlective in

EVAPORATION.

65

preventing evaporation than the forest itself. So great
is the power of the latter that direct observations made
in Bavaria and Prussia showed that evaporation from
a free surface of water in the forest was only 40 per
cent of that in the open.

The presence or absence of leaf mold has a powerful
effect on the amount of evaporation from forest soil.

now bank evaporating. Sun Gabriel Mountains, California.

The experiments of Dr. Ebermayer, a famous German
forest meteorologist, showed that evaporation from
forest soil without a layer of mold was 47 per cent
of that from soil in the open, while with a layer of
mold it was less than half as much, or 22 per cent.
The greater the altitude above the sea the greater is the
effect of the forest in preventing evaporation. This is
a powerful reason for preserving mountain forests at

<)(> A PRIMER OF FOKKSTRY.

tin* headwaters of streams, especially in the Rocky
Mountain reo-ions of the I'nited States. Kvaporation
i> there so active that u'reat banks of snow lyin<r in the
full trlare of tlie sun often dis;ip])ear without melting
even enough to moisten the ground on tin1 hillsides
below them. Vast quantities of water evaporate in
this way without ever reaching the streams. Measure-
ments made by the Bureau of Forestry show that
evaporation from snow may be four or live times as
Lrreat as from water under like circumstances.

RAINFALL.

The causes of rain are for the most part wholly
beyond the reach of influence from the forest. Such
are the o-reat currents of warm and cold water in the
ocean, the direction of the prevailing winds, and the
presence or absence of mountain ranges. But there
are two reasons which lead us to believe that forests
do atfect the rainfall. These are their colder and
moister air. and the resistance which they oiler to the
motion of the winds. A ^reat number of observations
has been made in different parts of the world to dis-
cover how much the rainfall really is atlected by the
forest, but for several reasons no generally accepted
result has yet been reached. In the lirst place, accu-
rate observations on rainfall are not easy to make.
The height above the ground at which a rain ^auire
i- placed a fleets it very seriously. A variation of l'»
fc.-t in height \\ill often make more difference in the
amount of rain caught than most observers claim for
the whole action of the forest. The rainfall of two
-tat ion- at unequal heights above >ea level is some-

FALLEN KAIN. 67

times wrongly compared, because the difference in
rainfall may be caused by the difference in altitude.
Finally, the best observations that have been made
point to different conclusions. For example, measure-
ments taken in Prussia go to show that there is an
increase of rain over the forest, and that it is greater
the higher the station. Thus, near the level of the sea
it was only 1.25 per cent greater than over the open
country, while at altitudes between 2,000 and 3,000 feet
it reached 43 per cent. Observations made at Nancy,
in France, which lies about YOO feet above the sea, show
an average yearly increase of 16 per cent. The Bava-
rian observations, on the contraiy, do not indicate
more rain over the forest. The best evidence at hand
fails to show a decrease in rainfall over the United
States in the last hundred years, in spite of the im-
mense areas of forest that have been burned and cut.
But it should not be forgotten that most of those areas
have grown up again, first with brush, and afterwards
with trees, so that the proportion of land covered with
leaves is still very large in all that part of the country
which was once under forest. In India, again, a large
amount of statistics has been collected which leads to
the conclusion that forests do influence rainfall. The
truth probably is that more rain falls over the forest
than over open country similarly placed, but how much
more it is impossible to say. The excess falls chiefly
in the form of summer showers. One of the best
authorities has estimated the difference at 10 per cent.

FALLEN RAIN.

Whatever doubt there may be about the action of
the forest in producing rain, there is none about its

68

A 1'RIMKK OF FORESTRY.

effect on rain water after it has fallen. When rain
falls over a dense forest from less than one-tenth to
about one-fourth of it i> caught by the trees. A small
part of this water may reach the ground by riinnino-
clown the trunks, but the greater part of it is evapo-
rated and so increases the humidity of the air. That
which passes through the crowns falls upon the forest
tloor. which sometimes has an absorbing power so o-reat
that it can hold for a while a rainfall of ."> inches. Vet

this water does not
remain in the porous
floor, but in the end
runs otl into the
streams, or is evapo-
rated, or sinks into
the "-round. That
which o-ets into the
o-roiind is either

Jffc

Fn;. -W.— The beginning of erosion in soil
trampi-d l).-ire by stock. Sierni Nevada
Mountains. California.

taken up by the roots
or o-ocs to feed the
springs and water-
courses.

Rain which falls
over a bare slope acts differently. It is not caught by
the crowns nor held by the floor, nor is its flow into
the >t reams hindered by the timber and the fallen
waste from the trees. It does not sink into the ground
more than half a> readily a> in the forest, as experi-
ments have shown. The result is that a OTC;II deal of
water reaches the streams in a short time, which is
the reason why floods occur. It is therefore true that
fmv-N tend to prevent flood-. Hut thiso-ood influence
is important only when the forest covers a lar«re part

FALLEN EAIN.

69

of the drainage basin of the stream. Even then the
forest may not prevent floods altogether. The forest
floor, which has more to do with the fallen rain water
than any other part of the forest, can affect its flow
only so long as it has not taken up all the water it can
hold. That which falls after the forest floor is satu-
rated runs into the streams almost as fast as it would
over hare ground.

An unf crested drainage basin in the San Bernardino
Mountains of south-
ern California was
found by the Bu-
reau of Forestry to
discharge the rain
it received more than
twice as rapidly as
similar forested ba-
sins near by. In
consequence, the
stream in the former
went dry, while the streams in the latter were still flow-
ing abundantly. (See PL XVIII.)

In these ways it happens that in mountain countries,
where floods are most common and do most harm, the
forests on the higher slopes are closehT connected with
the prosperity of the people in the valleys below.

Water in motion was nature's most powerful tool in
shaping the present surface of the earth. In places
where the slopes are steep, the structure of the ground
loose, and the rainfall abundant, water may work very
rapidly in cutting away the heights and filling the val-
leys. The destruction of the forest in such a region
exposes the surface to the direct action of falling rain

Fn;. 44.— Rapid erosion in deep fine soil.

TO

A I'KIMKK <>F FORKSTKY.

;ind is certain to he followed l>v the formation of tor-
rents. The danger is greatest when the soil has been
laid hare hy the browsing and the hoofs of gra/ing
animals, jiinong which sheep and goats are especially
destructive, or where the forest Moor has been burned
away.

North Carolina.

When these conditions are both present, as in parts
of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, of
the Cascade Range in Oregon, and in many other
part- of the We-t. the prosperity of the valleys is in
>erious danger. Fire and overgra/ing on the moun-
tains combine to endanger the future water supply
of irrigated <>r irrigable areas in the valleys below.

FALLEN RAIN. 71

When rain falls over mountains which have so been
deprived of their natural protection it is no longer
caught and held back by the trees and the forest
floor. The roots, which were once the strongest
means of binding the soil together, now are gone and
leave it without protection against the rushing water.
Heavy rains or sudden thaws swell the streams with

FIG. 46.— Masonry dams built to control a torrent. Students of the French
forest school at the right. Alps of southern France.

marvelous quickness, and give them a, wonderful power
to cut away their banks. Where the waterway is very
steep such a flood often carries with it many times its
own weight of earth and stones. As it nears the val-
ley it breaks from its bed and makes new channels, or
spreads over the lowlands. The current loses its swift-
ness, and its load of stones and sterile earth sinks to

T'J A 1'KIMKK OF FORKSTRY.

the hottom. the heavier pieces first. Where it falls
the beds of rivers are tilled up and fertile lands are
covered with pebbles and sand.

For a time after such a Mood the streams are usually
1 >w. because the water which should have fed them
for weeks or months has run oil' in a few days. 'Phis
may be quite as serious a matter for the farmer- a-

FK.. 1,.— Plantation of Kuropean alder in the bed of a tonviit controlled by
dams This torrent is HOW extinct. Alps of southern France.

the destruction of their fields, as for example in place-
like southern California, where the crops depend on
irrigation with the water of -treams which rise in
the mountains. Torrents have beu-un to form there in
the San Bernardino Mountains, and have already car-
ried stones and sand into the orange proves and even
into the town- of the San (iabriel Yallev. Me fore the

3ul. 24, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agr.

PLATE XVIII,

FIG. 1. — FORESTED WATERSHED IN THE SAN BERNARDINO Mour
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

FIG. 2. — UNFORESTED WATERSHED IN THE SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS,
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

FALLEN RAIN. 73

water of the San Gabriel River was so largely taken
out for irrigation it was rapidly cutting away the
fertile land on either side of its shifting bed, and it
seemed likely that serious loss of property would fol-
low. This is the direct result of lire and grazing in
the mountains.

The pasturage of sheep in the Alps of southern France
was the chief cause of the destructive torrents with
which the French Government has been struggling for
many years. The direct loss to the French people has
been enormous, and in addition the work of correc-
tion alone has cost upward of $35,000,000. Although
wonderfully successful hitherto, it is still far from
finished.

CHAPTER IV.

FORESTRY ABROAD AND AT HOME.
FOUKSTKY ABROAD.

Kxcept Chinti, all civilized nations care for the forest.
I'litil recently the l/nited States ranked nearly with
China in this respect, and our country still remains
far behind the progressive modern nations in nearly
all that relates to the protection, preservation, and
conservative use of the forest. Japan has a well-
developed forest service and a national forest school.
In Austria. Italy, and Norway and Sweden government
forestry is a well-established portion of the national
life. Tin-key. Greece, Spain, and Portugal o-ive atten-
tion to the forests. Kussia. dealing like ourselves with
\a-t areas of forests in thinly peopled regions, hut by
methods wholly different from our own. is drawing
enormous revenues from the systematic care and use of
the forests. In (Jermany the scientific treatment of
forests has reached, perhaps, its highest development.
The foresters of France have perfected a most prac-
tical and ellcctive general system of forestry, and have
created the dillicult art of controlling the Hoods of
mountain tori'ent- by planting tree-. 'I'he Republic of
S\\ it/crland. by the use of methods mo-t instructive
t<> citixens of the I'nited State-, ha- developed a type
74

FORESTRY ABROAD. 75

of government forest policy more worthy of our atten-
tion and imitation than any other in Europe. In Aus-
tralia and New Zealand forestry has already made im-
portant advances. In Canada the English have made
real progress in forestry; the government sells the
timber from its forests, but retains possession of the
lands and employs fire guards; at the Cape of Good
Hope they have an excellent forest service; in British
India they have met and answered many questions
which still confront the American forester, and in a
little more than thirty }Tears have created a forest serv-
ice of great merit and high achievement. The United
States has scarcely yet begun.

THE FOREST IX EARLY TIMES.

In very early times the forest was preserved for the
game it contained. Forestry then meant the art of
hunting, and had very little to do with the care of trees.
Even the word forest, which really comes from the
Latin /"/•/*. moaning out of doors, was thought in
England to be derived from the fact that it was a place
given up to wild animals for rest. But gradually the
forest came to be considered more than the game, and
the serious stud}T of forestry began.

MODERN FORESTRY.

Forestry as a science is of comparatively recent
origin, although a work in which all the European
trees are described was one of the earliest printed
books. Until the end of the eighteenth century for-
estry was discussed chiefly by men who were either
scholars or practical woodsmen, but who were not
both. Then appeared Hartig and Cotta, two men_who

7»> A 1'KIMKK OF FOKKSTRY.

united these points of view, and their writings are at
the base of the whole modern growth of the subject,
Both were (ierinaii. Kach covered the whole field as
it was then understood, and together they exerted an
influence which has not been approached by anv other
authors since. From Germany their teaching spread
to France, and early in the nineteenth century their
doctrines were introduced into the French Forest
School at Nancy by Lorentx, who, with his succe>sor.
Parade, was the founder of modern forestry in France.
I'mler the feudal system, which was finally destroyed
in France by the revolution of ITS!), the forest was
the property of the feudal lord. In order to make1 the
life of their serfs. who were useful both as taxpayers
and as fighting men, easier, and so increase their num-
ber, he gave them the privilege of taking from his
forest the wood which they required. For similar
reasons the wealthy religious houses, like that of the
(1 rande Chartreuse, made grants of land and of
rights in the forest. But after a time the number of
peasants increased so much that their wants absorbed
nearly the whole produce of the woodlands. Then it
was found necessary to limit the prescriptive rights to
forest products by restricting them to certain parts
of the forest, or to make an end of them by exchang-
ing them for the absolute ownership of smaller aiva>.
Thu-; many of the communit ie>. to which, and not to
individual peasants, these rights belonged, came to
possess forests of their own. But the commune.*-, as
thev were called, managed their forests badly, and
about three hundred years ago the (Jovernment was
forced to intervene. I'nder the management of olli-

FORESTRY ABROAD. 77

cers of the Government forest service, the results from
the communal forests have been excellent. At pres-
ent these forests not only supply fuel to the villages
which own them, but in some cases they produce
enough to pay all the village taxes as well.

Germany still holds the high position in forest sci-
ence which began with Hartig and Cotta. The Ger-
man forest schools, of which there are seven of the
higher grades, are still among the veiy best, and the
study of forestry, both in the schools and in the forest
experiment stations, is eagerly pursued. The forests
in Prussia, Saxony, and other German States are
admirably managed, and yield important returns. The
total value of the German forests, public and private,
is said to be about $4,500,000,000.

France.

Forestry in France has long been associated with
the names of famous men. Henry of Navarre and his
friend and minister, Sully; Palissy, the great potter,
who called the neglect of the forest prevalent in his
time unota mistake, but a calamity and a curse for
France;" Colbert, the minister of Louis XIV; the
botanist Duhamel du Monceau; Buffon, the celebrated
naturalist, are among the men to whom France owes
the rise and progress of her present excellent forest
policy. Their peculiar service was to lay the founda-
tion, both in law and in public opinion, upon which
modern forestry in France now rests.

The forests of the French Government are admirably
1116—05 8

78 A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

managed. They cover only about 2,750,000 acres, but

they yield a net return each year of more than *'2 per
acre. Besides handling their national forests with
great intelligence and success, the French foresters
have done much for the general progress of forestry.
They developed the art of reforesting denuded moun-
tains, and were the first to plant tree-, on moving sand
dunes along the seashore. More than irin.non acres
of these dunes, which once were blown about by the
wind until they overwhelmed great stretches of fertile
ground, and even threatened to bury whole towns, are
now covered with forests of pine, and produce great
quantities of turpentine, lumber, and charcoal.

Switzerland.

In Switzerland forestry received attention from very
early times. Nearly two hundred years before the
discovery of America the city of Zurich began to make
rules for the protection and management of the Sihl-
wald, a forest which it still owns, and which now yields
an annual return of about ss per acre. In the Canton
of Bern a decree of the year I.V.H warned the people,
against the wasteful use of timber and provided for the
protection of the forest along various lines. It also
directed that for every tree cut down a young one
should be planted in its place. It is curious to find this
mistaken prescription for the ills of the forest already
in fashion more than three centuries ago. To save the
forest every old tree must be replaced by ///////// young
ones.

The first general forest law of Hern was passed as
early as ITiC). It embodied the most important prinei-

FOKESTEY ABROAD. 79

pies of wise forest legislation as we know them to-day.
But this was only one of a long series of forest laws in
which, from the beginning, the idea of the importance
of the forest to others besides its owner became stead-
ily stronger. The citizens of Bern have grown ever
more willing to place restrictions on themselves for
the benefit of the Commonwealth.

There were great floods in Switzerland in 1834, and
they were the cause of a general awakening of interest
in forestry. Somewhat later a federal forest commis-
sion was appointed. Since the appearance of its final
report in 1861 the progress of forestr}^ in Switzerland
has been steady. In 1875 a federal forest inspector
was appointed, and a year later the first Swiss forest
law was passed. This law does not extend to the
whole of Switzerland, but only to the Alps and the
steeper foothills. In a country of steep mountains it
is of first importance to guard the forests on the
higher slopes. Consequently all the forests on these
higher lands which serve to protect the lowlands against
floods, avalanches, and other similar dangers of wind
and weather are put in charge of the Swiss federal
forest service.

A great saying of Landolt. — "Our forest laws," said
Elias Landolt, a great and simple man, whose name
stands first among Swiss foresters, "are intended to
work more through instruction, good example, and
encouragement than by severe regulations. This
method is somewhat slower than one which should
involve harsher measures, but the results achieved are
more useful and lasting. When forest owners do some-
thing because they are convinced of its usefulness it is

80 A I'KIMKK OF FORESTRY.

well and with an eye to the future, but what the}7
do under compulsion is done carelessly and neglected

at the first opportunity. What they have eoine to
learn in this way and have recognized as good will be
carried out, and that better and better from year to
year."

India.

For many years after the British conquest forestry
in India made very little progress. Much time was
wasted in half measures, until in 1856 Dr. (now Sir
Dietrich) Brand is was put in charge of the teak forests
of Pegu. He acted at once upon the idea of preserving
them by making them pay. At first the output of
teak had to be somewhat restricted, much against the
will of the timber merchants of Rangoon, who protested
that the business of their city would be ruined. But
after this momentary check the teak trade of Rangoon
grew until it was far greater than ever before, and it is
now a chief and increasing source of the prosperity of
that city.

The appointment of Dr. Brandis was the beginning
of the Indian forest service. In 1866 he was made
inspector-general of forests, and from that time prog-
resa was rapid. The Indian forest service now has
nearly ."><>n superior officers and over 10,000 rangers and
forest guards. It has charge of about 200,000 square
miles of forest, and produces a net revenue, after all
expen>e> have been paid, of about (S, 000, 000 a year.
In addition, the forests furnish to peasant holdeis of
fore-t rights products whose value is estimated to be
considerably greater than the whole cost of the forest
service, About :;n,<M>0 square miles are effectively

FORESTRY AT HOME. 81

protected against fire, at an average yearly cost of less
than half a cent per acre. These admirable results are
especially interesting because India is like the United
States in the great extent and variety of her forests
and in the number and fierceness of forest fires.

FORESTRY AT HOME.

The forests of the United States cover an area of
about 699,500,000 acres, or more than 35 per cent of
the surface of the country. Before so large a part
of them was destroyed they were, perhaps, the rich-
est on the earth, and with proper care they are capable
of being so again. Their power of reproduction is
exceedingly good.

In the Northeastern States, and as far west as Min-
nesota, once stretched the great white pine forest from
which, since settlement began, the greater part of our
lumber has come. South of it, in a broad belt along
the Atlantic and the Gulf coasts, lies the southern
pine forest, whose most important tree, both for lum-
ber and naval stores, is the southern yellow pine. In
the Mississippi Valley lies the interior hardwood forest
of oaks, hickories, ashes, gums, and other hardwood
trees. It is bordered on the west by the plains, which
cover the eastern slope of the continental divide until
they meet the evergreen Rocky Mountain forest which
clothes the slopes of this great range from the Canadian
line to Mexico. Separated from the Rocky Mountain
forest by the interior deserts, the Pacific Coast forest
covers the flanks of the Sierras, the Cascades, and the
Coast ranges. Its largest trees are the giant sequoia

82 A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

mid the great const redwood, and its most important
timber is the tir.

The forests of the Philippine Islands cover an area
of more than 40,000,000 acres. Their timbers, almost
wholly different from those of the United States, are
exceedingly valuable, both as cabinet woods and as
construction timber. An efficient forest service was
organized in 1898, and following its reorganization in
1902 a new and excellent forest law was passed in It»n4.
The Philippine forest service costs but half as much
as the revenue received from the forests of the islands.

The island of Porto Rico contains a national forest
reserve, the site of which was once covered with valu-
able hardwoods; but this forest has been much abused.
Porto Rico, like the Philippines, has many kinds of
wood valuable for cabinetmaking.

THE SETTLER AND THE FOREST.

When the early settlers from the Old World landed
on the Atlantic coast of North America they brought
with them traditions of respect for the forest created
by generations of forest protection at home. The
country to which they came was covered, for the most
part, with dense forests. There was so little open land
that ground had to be cleared for the plow. It i> true
that the forest gave the pioneers shelter and fuel, and
game for food, but it was often filled with hostile
Indians, it hemmed them in on every side, and immense
labor was required to win from it the soil in which to
rai-e their necessary crops. Naturally, it seemed to
them an enemy rather than a friend. Their respect for
it dwindled and disappeared, and its place was taken by
hate and fear.

FORESTRY AT HOME. 83

The feeling of hostility to the forest which grew up
among the early settlers continued and increased among
their descendants long after all reason for it had dis-
appeared. But even in the early days far-sighted men
began to consider the safety of the forest. In 1653 the
authorities of Charlestown, in Massachusetts, forbade
the cutting of timber on the town lands without per-
mission from the selectmen, and in 1689 the neighboring
town of Maiden fixed a penalty of 5 shillings for cutting
trees less than 1 foot in diameter for fuel. An ordinance
of William Penn, made in 1681, required that 1 acre
of land be left covered with trees for every 5 acres
cleared. But these measures were not well followed
up, and the needless destruction of the forest went
steadily on.

FIRST STEPS IN FORESTRY.

More than a hundred years later, in 1795, a commit-
tee of the Society for the Promotion of Agriculture,
Arts, and Manufactures in New York made a report
on the best way to preserve and increase the growth
of timber. Four years afterwards Congress appropri-
ated $200,000 for the purchase and preservation of
timberlands to supply ship timbers for the Navy, and
in 1822, with the same object in view, it authorized the
President to employ the Army and Navy to protect and
preserve the live oak and red cedar timber of the Gov-
ernment in Florida. Since that time more and more
attention has been given to the forests. In 1828
Governor DeWitt Clinton, of New York, spoke of the
reproduction of our woods as an object of primary
importance, and in the same year the Government began
an attempt to cultivate live oak in the South for the use

84 A PRIMKR OK FORESTRY..

of the Navy. Three years later an act was passed which
is still almost the only protection for the much-abused
forests of the public domain.

In isTi' the Yellowstone National Park was estab-
lished, and in 187.'> Congress passed the timber-culture
act. which gave Government land in the treeless regions
to whoever would plant one-fourth of his claim with
trees. Jn 1875, the American Forestry Association
was formed in Chicago through the efforts of Dr. John
A. Warder, who was one of the first men to agitate
forest questions in the United States. In the centen-
nial year (1876) Dr. Franklin B. Hough, perhaps the
foremost pioneer of forestry in America, was appointed
special agent in the Department of Agriculture. This
was the beginning of educational work in forestry at
Washington. Soon afterward Congress began tc make
appropriations to protect the public timber, but noth-
ing was done to introduce conservative forest manage-
ment. The present Bureau of Forestry in the De-
partment of Agriculture was established as a division
in 1881.

About this time forest associations began to be estab-
lished in the different States, the most influential and
effective of which has been that in Pennsylvania. The
States also began to form forest boards or commissions
of their own.

In 1888 the first forest bill was introduced in Con-
gress. It failed to pas>. but in 1891 an act was p;i--ed
which was the first step toward a true policy for the
forestfi of the nation. The first step toward national
forestry i- control of the national forests. This act,
whose chief purpose was to repeal the timber-culture

FORESTRY AT HOME. 85

act, contained a clause which authorized the President
to reserve tiraberlands on the public domain, and so
prevent them from passing out of the possession of the
Government.

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

In all the States and Territories west of the Missis-
sippi except Texas, and in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, Alabama, and Missis-
sippi, all the land orginally belonged to the Govern-
ment. This was the public domain. It has gradually
been sold or given away until in many of the States it
has all or nearly all passed to other owners. But it
still includes more than 470,000,000 acres, or nearly
one-third of the United States, not including the Terri-
tory of Alaska, which has an area of about 350,000,000
acres. A large part of the public domain has been sur-
veyed by the Government and divided first into squares
6 miles on each side, called townships, then into squares
of 1 mile, called sections, and these again into quarter
sections and smaller divisions. The lines which mark
these divisions are straight arid at right angles to each
other. When any part of the public domain is reserved
or disposed of it is usually located by reference to these
lines.

FEDERAL FOREST RESERVES.

When the President was given the power to make
forest reserves, the public domain still contained much
of the best timber in the West, but it was passing
rapidly into private hands. Acting upon the wise prin-
ciple that forests whose preservation is necessary for
the general welfare should remain in Government con-

A 1'RIMKR OF FOKKSTKY.

trol. President Harrison created the lirst forest reserves.
President (Cleveland followed his example. But there
wa^ yet no systematic plan for the making or mana^e-
inent of the reserves, which at that time were altogether
without protection by the ( Jovernment. Toward the
end of President Cleveland's second Administration,
therefore % the National Academy of Sciences was asked
to appoint a commission to examine the national forest
lands and report a plan for their control. The academy
did so, and upon the recommendation of the National
Forest Commission so appointed, President Cleveland
doubled the reserved area by setting aside 13 additional
forest reserves on Washington's Birthday. isiiT.

The Cleveland forest reserves awakened at once
great opposition in Congress and throughout the West,
and led to a general discussion of the forest policy.
But after several years of controversy widespread
approval took the place of opposition, and at present
the value of the forest reserves is rarely disputed,
except by private interests impatient of restraint.

The recommendations of the National Forest Com-
mission for the management of the forest reserves
were not acted upon by Congress, but the law of June
4, 18t>7. gave the Secretary of the Interior authority
to protect the reserves and make them useful. 'The
pa--age of this law was the first step toward a national
forest service. The second step was the act of Con-
gress, approved February 1, 190f>. which transferred
the control of the national forest reserves from the
Department of the Interior to the Department of
Agriculture. This act consolidated the (iovernment's
I'on-t work, which had been divided between the ( Jen-
era I Land Oilice and the Bureau of Forestry. Mid

FORESTRY AT HOME. 87

secured for the reserves the supervision of trained
foresters.

President McKinley and after him President Roose-
velt continued to make forest reserves. The latter
introduced a s}Tstem of examining the proposed forest
reserves, so that now their boundaries are better
located than ever before. Under him great progress
has been made by the Government in bringing about
the practice of forestry by forest owners and in awak-
ening the great lumber interests, as well as the people
in general, to the dangers of forest destruction.

The forest reserves lie chiefly in high mountain
regions. They are 62 in number, and cover an area
(January 1, 1905) of 63,308,319 acres. They are use-
ful first of all to protect the drainage basins of streams
used for irrigation, and especially the watersheds of
the great irrigation works which the Government is
constructing under the reclamation law, which was
passed in 1902. This is their most important use.
Secondly, they supply grass and other forage for many
thousands of grazing animals during the summer,
when the lower ranges on the plains and deserts are
barren and dry. Lastly, they furnish a permanent
supply of wood for the use of settlers, miners, lumber-
men, and other citizens. This is at present the least
important use of the reserves, but it will be of greater
consequence hereafter. The best way for the Govern-
ment to promote each of these three great uses is to
protect the forest reserves from fire.

STATE FORESTRY.

Many of the States have taken great and effective
interest in forestry. Among those which have made

88 A PRIMER OF FORESTRY.

ino>t progre>s are New York and Pennsylvania. New
York lias a State forest preserve of 1,436,6S(> acres, and
PeimsN Ivania one of 7<>o,niH> acn-s. Michigan. Minne-
sota. .;nd other States are rapidly following their
example.

In 1M2 the h'rst ex:ini])le of systematic forestry in
the United States was begun at Biltniore. in North
Carolina. It is still in successful operation.

The tirst professional foresters in the United State-
were obliged to go abroad for their training, but in
1898 professional forest schools were established at
Cornell University in New York, and at Biltniore. in
North Carolina, and the}T were followed by the Yale
Forest School in 1900. Others have sprung up since.
At present, thorough and efficient training in profes-
sional forestry can be had in the United States.

THE END.

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