Evening star., 1902-08-30

presented favorable opportunities to Illus
trate forest management, prepare plans
for the work and to supervise the execu-
tion OF them. The owners need merely 10
pay the necessary expenses OF the federal
employ assigned 20 the work
Dr Webb also had his tract, which con-
tains about 10000 acres, examined bv the
government. The Government experts went
through the woods with hatchets. on the
face Of which the initials II. $" We're cut
Every tree that was selected as a proper
one Tor telling was 'blazed" with this be-
low the stump. and the lumbermen had or
marked.
The results OF the introduction Of scIen-
tine methods were surprising The net cost
TO the owner of going through the Webb
tract and marking the trees was 1913 a.
among the waStetUi methods discovered iu
the tract ana checked by the examination
was that OF leaving high stumps. The
iumbermen do not c re to cut the trees
near the ground because the work is much
harder and tires their backs. BY careful
measurement, the foreStcrs demonstrated
that in tract OF 10000 acres IN, net loss
from leaving high stumps was 81 500. which
could De saved readily each year
Ihey also drew up plan for cutting the
Ups instead OF leaving them in the woods.
As rule, the lumbermen lop OF from four
to twelve feet Of the tops and this debris
always has been one of the great sources
OF IoreSt nres. Lumbermen have Objected
10 carrying the tops out because they de-
CARED that they were unstable waste and
represented nothing but loss and that. con
SeQuentiy, IL would be runous to go TO the
extra expense of transporting them
Inc toreSters showed that the tops that
were LEFT In the woods of forty thousand
acre tract would be worth 50 .SDO Thus
improYident numbering not only had caused
a constant menace from fire, but actually
thousands of dollars had been left In the
woods to rot each year
The
Webb tracts also showed the owners that
enough young spruces are cut each wear
Tor skidways and corduroy roads by the
lumoermen to make pretty good forest in
themselves II they were left TO grow and
that IL certain sums were set aside now to
Dulld roads from other materials in twenty
hve years there would be many thousands
OF marketable trees that would more than
pay Tor the roads and the interest on the
money thus invested.
A Triumph of Forestry.
AS a consequence of the examination.
stringent rules have been adopted in both
the whitney and Webb preserves They
are that no trees shall be cut unless they
have been marked, while all marked trees
must be felled: no tree shall be left lodged
in the woods TO decay or go to waste. no
trees shall be cut higher than six inches
above the ground; no spruce shall be used
other purposes unless no other less valuable
timber can be obtained; all spruce used for
Sideways must be hauled out after such
use II II is at all marketable; contractors
must discharge any men who do unneces-
Sary damage to young trees.
The net results of the working plans thus
made Will be that, IL they are followed
faithfully and under the care of efficient
foresters, numbering can go on steadily with
the present annual output in the two tracts
ana yet In thirty-six Years there will be so
many new trees that the original cut can be
obtained from the land. In other words
the forest will have reproduced itself
Thus, with the introduction of practical
foresters, the problem of the forests will
be in a way to be solved satisfactorily and
practically in the United States. Lumber
ing need not be prohibited. but merely guild
ed wisely, and there will be no more danger
of American lands being denuded of forests
than there is in Germany. The stringent
laws of Germany need not be introduced
here. for the owners of the woodland are
learning that it is not only to their future
but their immediate profit to lumber con-
servatiyely.
In Germany the numbering laws are so
strict that even the gathering Of dried
branches and twigs Is permitted only under
definite stipulations. FEELING trees illegally,
or, indeed taking any lumber out of a for
est without the sanction Of law. whether
the lumber be a branch a tree, is defined
as wood theft and is punished like any
other theft. The result is that there is a
feeling in Germany against illegal lumber
ing that makes the perpetrator a criminal,
not only in the eyes Of the law, but also In
the eyes Of society.