The suburban citizen., 1902-10-18

ests has become thoroughly recognized.
1t is the profession Of forestry.
OF course, there have been forestry
experts in this country for many years.
But most of them were Government
employees in one way or another, and
Government control of forests meant
generally only the conserving Of tracts
that were set aside by State or Federal
authority, to be immune from the lum-
herman and to be preserved as parks
and forest reserves.
Until the new science shaped itself
slowly out of the war Of conflicting in
terests, forestry in the United States,
as interpreted by the public practically
meant only the question of saving
American trees from the axe. But
while all this superficial fighting went
ON between lumbermen and their sup
porters on one side, and idealists and
theorists on the other, the true science
was shaping itself.
Young men, some sent by the Gov
ernment, others studying on their own
account were learning in Europe what
real forestry was in the lands where,
despite ages Of numbering, the forests
still stand thick and beautiful.
In the past few years these men have
been returning to tell America how to
combine profitable cutting with profit
able preservation and with the knowl-
edge that shows forest owners how TO
draw income from their property and
yet keep it, in other words, how to eat
their cake and have it too, the new
commercial profession of forestry has
become an important and lucrative one.
In many respects it is an ideal pur-
suit. 1t offers unequalled opportunity
for living a free and healthful outdoor
life. 1t deals with natures greatest
beauties. 1t is profession that is not
crowded. 1t offers chances for wealth,
since the trained eye of forester can
see chances in the wilderness which
the unframed man, and even the
trained but unscientific woodsman,
would not guess. 1t is business that
promises ample salary, for the forester
can show his employers where they
can save or earn thousands Of dollars
that without him would be lost.
While the American forester must
perfect himself in his science by study
ing European forestry, American con-
ditions differ so radically from those
of Europe that forestry in the United
States is profession of its own, and
the American has little to fear from
his older colleagues on the other side.
Henry $. Graves, superintendent of
working plans of the Department Of
Agriculture, explains this by, saying
that the American forester must direct
his efforts, not to the immediate intro
duction Of European methods, but to
devislng systems which can be adopt
ed by landowners at once, and which
are capable Of development as the con
ditiOns of the market allow them. In
many cases these systems will differ
radically from any practiced in Europe.
a great field where practical forest
ers are needed badly and at once in
America Is in the vast woodlands
owned or controlled by paper manu-
featuring concerns. Many of them
are confronted with the problem of a
coming loss of their source of wood
pulp. Their one hope is to introduce
such system Of numbering that they
can cut successive crops of wood every
twenty or thirty years; that Is, to plant
trees and aid young trees now in the
sections where they are numbering, so
that by the time they have cut their
way through their property new forests
snail have grown up in the old sectiona
There are millions of acres of land
devoted to trees for wood pulp manu-
facture. There are more millions de.
voted to numbering, where practically
the same conditions prevail--that is,
the owners realize that they must con-
serve forests If they expect to get any
future benefit from their property. A
great proportion of these woods are on
land that may never be available for
anything else. Consequently, if lum-
bering is done with no provision for
new growth of trees, the investments
will be wiped out the moment the last
tree is cut down.
The State Of New York now holds in
reserves 100000 acres of forest lands
In the Adirondacks, and Is acquiring
more as fast as appropriations can be
obtained. At present the law prohibits
cutting Of any kind, and the system of
forestry is confined to protecting the
forests from fire and theft. But in
time 1t will become absolutely neces-
sary to cut down a proportion of the
older trees, not for profit necessarily,
but because the science of forestry in.
cludes the thinning Of forests in order
TO give the majority of the trees the
opportunity for development that is de-
MED to them by the excessive growth
of the big and aged trees.
1t is not only the product from the
forest that interests the owners to-day,
They have discovered that IL they
leave the small trees when numbering
they car sell the numbered tracts to
sportsmen at high prices, providing the