The Tomahawk., 1926-09-30
GROWING TREES. !. !. !:
FURNISH CROP
Perpetual Yield Basis Of New
Forest Products Industry
and Forest Policy. !. %, .


The new forest products Industry is
keyed throughout to continuous cut.
ting, maintained yield, perpetual forest
harvest. ,r..i i::, -: h:,r. -.
It is based on; the economic discov-
cry that trees grow. >'i -
As a natural, fact, everyone knows
that trees grow.s But as an economic
discovery it is new idea in the Uni
ted States. The old fashioned lum-
herman did not see growing trees. He
saw trees; full grown, and SO far as
he was concerned !, there were no
others. Growing, trees meant nothing
to the old industry, } It. takes hum
dred years to grow, a tall white pine
and;another hundred years to come
to full maturity! The idea Of sitting
down and waiting one hundred years
or so till the tree was ready to. cut
did. not appeal to! the old fashioned
lumberman.y His business was on the
move. HE never sat still for a minute
not to mention aihundred years. il
/ The. fact that trees grow means ev-
erything to the new Industry in which
lumber, pulp and fiber all come from,
trees, =: ..,", g. :.>,,.,,,.,...,..,....;... o.,
! Woody growth in Minnesota pro-
duces e cord per acre per year. That
Is also the rule fl European countries
where they have: been measuring for
years. It is checked by measuring up
the amount Of wood in trees Of q given
age and counting the number to the
acre. 1t is checked by measuring the
amount cut from given areas at an
average age. By the way, some years
ago a small acreage was planted on
the state experimental farm at Grand
Rapids, when #. H. Chapman was
starting things there. This year some
wood was cut from that plantation.
The cut was. measured and it, showed
the same result, id cord per acre per
year.
Not long ago an old timer was look
Ing over logging proposition near
Winton. He stopped in his tracks.
s'See that hillside" he said. 81 logged
there forty years ago; there was moth
ing left but q gravel ridge; I. didn't
suppose it would ever produce another
stick worth cutting. But look at 1t
now" What did he see!f White pine
completely covering the. hillside.
Trees half grown, many of them large
enough to make a two-by-four, promis-
ing fair yield of merchant logs in
ten or fifteen years more. ..,...,
Trees grow--at a rate the old ldm-
,bermen never realized. 80, ''@ -.
+ While they are growing, there is
yield of small stuff. After fifteen or
twenty years the original stock needs
to be thinned for the good of the CROP.
! There should be enough merchantable
stuff, pulpwood and so on, to pay the
! cost Of thinning at least. In another
fifteen or twenty Years, a second thin
ming will more than pay for itself.
And at: the. third thinning, the. cut of
sawlogs begins which can be con-
tinued after that forever. 1t is a mat
ter of local convenience whether to
take a tree here or there throughout
the tract, choosing the most mature
every year, Or to cut, once in ten years
or So all the merchant timber in a
given tract. In either case that tract
is on perpetual yield basis.
Perpetual yield means perpetual
revenue. Already this is realized in
the national forests. The Minnesota
national forest at 'Cass lake has re.
ceipts of $4,000 a year from sale of
timber plus rent of: cabin sites. The
Superior national forest, north of Lake
Superior, with larger area, will have
larger. receipts in time. The Cass
Lake forest, when it gets into its ro-
tation Is expected to produce annual
returns. of more than $150,000. . .-
At that rate. the cutover. lands of
northern Minnesota :: are capable OF
producing, at present prices Of stump
age and pulpwood, crop rent of ten
million dollars year. t-'i - "'.' =.
And logs and cordwood to a value
oft$75, O00,030. That's cord per acre
per year. on ten million acres, worth
at the railroad siding seven to eight
dollars a cord. ..t' ... =.
And manufactured products doubled
and trebled Sin 7yalue.:ta IF"Gfss 81 i.
Necessarily the states management
Of its own lands is Influenced by the
fact that the industry Is hereafter on
a permanent yield basis and not mere
lY%reaping an accumulated harvest.
And necessarily the taxation Of tim.
Der; bearing lands is to be- adjusted to
the permanent yield basis instead Of
the Immediate harvest and the clean
sweep. ~ ....... f;
THE pending amendment is one Of
several steps in the adjustment. &