II.

Previous
Treatment.

Previous to the time of purchase by Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, the area
now included in Biltmore Estate was held by a number of small farmers.
These people, poor as the mountain farmer is apt to be, were obliged to use
without reserve all the resources of their scantily productive lands. They
were therefore in the habit of cutting all trees which could be used or sold as fuel, fencing,
or saw-logs. They turned their cattle into the forest, and often burned over their wood-
lands for the sake of the pasturage. A large part of the supply of fire-wood for Asheville
formerly came from land now included in the Estate. Under such treatment the forest, orig-
inally of moderate quality, grew steadily worse. The more valuable species of trees were
removed, and the less valuable ones remained to seed the ground and perpetuate their kind.
The fertility of the soil was destroyed by fire, while the young trees which grew up plentifully
in many places were cut back year after year by the browsing of cattle. At the time when
forest management was begun on the Estate the condition of a large part of the forest was
deplorable in the extreme.

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**Its Effect.**

The effect of this ill-treatment was necessarily marked. At Biltmore, as in any virgin forest, the different age-classes of the trees tended to distribute themselves in such a way that they were all present in all parts of the forest. This is the distinctive character of the so-called Selection Forest. When the removal of the best trees was begun, long before the present ownership, the effect was to produce two types of forest quite distinct from each other, but connected by a great variety of intermediate forms. In the first case (thanks to the increased light which came in where the old trees had stood) the young trees of the undergrowth sprang into vigorous life, and the remaining old trees bore more abundant seed, which germinated and furnished a still younger class. The result was then an imperfect Selection Forest, with the older classes of trees weak in the number of specimens, and with many of the younger classes in the series wanting altogether. In the second case the controlling influence was fire, which often followed a method of cutting that left a large part of the lighter and more inflammable portions of the tree on the ground. Most frequently the fire was fatal to the younger growth, while the old trees, protected by their thicker bark, escaped. The increased light which then reached the ground gave rise to another crop, either of seedlings or sprouts, which was approximately of even age.

The present condition of the forest then follows under these two general heads:
**Present Condition.** (1) Where all ages are more or less completely present in all parts, and (2) where there is but one distinctly predominant age-class. It occasionally happens that this age-class is composed of the larger trees; but in the great majority of cases saplings

17

and low poles form the principal crop. Over these the remaining old trees spread their widening crowns.

**Improvement**
**Cuttings.**

That portion of the forest which resembles the Selection Forest must be treated as such, and need not be discussed here. It is evident that in the other part immediate action was required. The old spreading trees were seriously injuring the young growth below them, and it was impossible to found a system of management on the lives of the older specimens, which, in very many cases, were already perishing. It became necessary, therefore, to institute a series of improvement cuttings which should remove these older trees, and prepare the way for a working plan under the Regular High Forest System, the characteristic of which is that the trees of the same age are grouped together, so that there are (theoretically) as many separate groups as there are years in the age of the oldest trees.

Two limitations imposed themselves at once. No older trees could be cut **Their Limitations**. where the young crop was very far from being dense enough to protect the soil, and no cuttings could be made which would cost more than the value of the product. The term of six years was tentatively set for carrying out these cuttings and the inauguration of the working plan. It was almost impossible to set a shorter period, for the reason that in many cases all the old trees could not be cut at once, on account of damage to the future crop; and for the same reason not less than five years must intervene between the first and second cuttings on the same ground.

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**Other Needed Measures.**

Beside the improvement cuttings, which were of themselves fitted to produce a more valuable mixture of species as well as a healthier and more uniform forest, there were a few things which must be seen to at once. First, cattle must be excluded from the forest, since the harm they do in browsing and breaking the young trees is very serious. Second, fire must also be kept out, for the presence of these two destructive agencies may be fatal to the future of any piece of forest. Fire had already done great injury to the quality of the forest floor by consuming the waste and the dead leaves, and destroying, in conjunction with too much light and air, that all-important factor, the vegetable mould. Third, on large parts of the area, where the crop was not dense enough, but was too old to allow planted trees to compete successfully with those already on the ground, the forest must be allowed absolute rest. The present crop will occupy the ground more fully as it grows older.

**Study and Description of the Forest.**

The preliminary study of the Forest, from which the facts just cited were derived, was greatly assisted by the lines which an extensive topographical survey had already run over the estate. These lines divided the area into squares of five hundred feet. It was found convenient to adopt these sections, as they were called, as the units of description, although it was not possible always to follow the boundaries thus laid down. The description of sections, each of which regularly contains about 5.7 acres, is illustrated by the following example: Section No. 180, area 5.7 acres, is 2,130 to 2,230 feet above sea level. The section includes a

21

ridge and its northeast and southwest slopes, each with an inclination of 20%. The soil is loam, the rock gneiss, the forest floor good. There are altogether upon the ground 0.7 of the number of trees which should normally be there. These are White, Scarlet and Post Oaks, Hickory and Chestnut, which together form 0.6, and Short-leaf and Pitch Pine, together 0.1. The locality is of second quality, and the forest standing upon it resembles a broken and irregular Selection Forest, with patches of fairly regular saplings and poles. The prevailing age-class is saplings, the prevailing species White Oak; and the requirements are that those standards or old trees which are not needed for seed should be cut down. Of these it is estimated that there are available for felling enough to yield about 3,000 feet, board measure, of lumber per acre.

The Card Cata-
logue.

Each description was written by means of abbreviations on a card of the
size of the old postal-card (3 X 5 inches); and the whole series, something over
600 in number, was arranged in the form of a card catalogue, and furnished
a very complete and convenient description of the details of the forest.

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III.

Locating the
Improvement
Cuttings: First
Series.

In deciding where to begin the improvement cuttings several considerations were kept in view. First, the present roads are faulty in location, grade and construction, and in wet weather are exceedingly heavy. Later on they will be replaced by a road system rightly planned and constructed. The distances for hauling were, therefore, to be made as short as possible. Second, the cost of transportation must be equalized from year to year. Third, the points most in need of improvement cuttings must be taken up first. Fourth, these three prime factors must be modified to some extent by the necessity of doing the work as economically as possible during the first year, when expenses would necessarily be higher than after a wider experience with special local conditions had indicated cheaper methods. Work was begun at a point near Biltmore where the old trees were sufficiently numerous and the younger growth vigorous enough to allow profitable cutting. The quality of the old trees and the location made it impossible to produce anything but cord-wood, for which the Brick-works at Biltmore gave a steady and profitable market.

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**Second Series.** The second series of improvement cuttings was begun on the Arrow-head Peninsula, almost at the opposite end of the Estate, where the quality and quantity of old trees to be removed made it possible to undertake lumbering with some chance of profit. The separation of the cutting areas by nearly the whole length of the Estate served both to equalize the cost of transportation and to make use of the saw-mill already set up without incurring the expense of a removal. Cord-wood also was manufactured in view of the probable establishment of a plant for the distillation of wood-alcohol, for which purpose wood may remain piled up in the forest for two years without injury.

No improvement cuttings will be made west of the French Broad, because the special treatment adopted for that part of the Forest, to be described hereafter, does not require them before going into effect.

**Marking.** The detail of the improvement cuttings for cord-wood near Biltmore was as follows: The trees which were to fall were first carefully marked. Great care was used not to cut too heavily at first. There was no standard of comparison in this country, and the thinness of the Forest and the uncertain amount of harm which might be done by the falling trees rendered it necessary to proceed with the utmost caution. After

the selection of the trees to fall they were notched with an axe, under the direction of the foreman, and thrown by the sawyers in the place he had selected. An occasional tree was felled by the axe, but this was the exception. Each tree was then sawed into the proper lengths for cord-wood, and the sawyers went on to

**Cutting Cord-Wood.**

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the next, leaving the splitting by wedge and mallet to another gang, as well as the cleaning
up of the tops and their reduction to cord-wood and unsalable piles of twigs. The wood was
next piled and measured, and hauled by mule teams to a side track on the private railroad
which connects Biltmore village with the site of Biltmore House, and there loaded on a car
and shipped to the Brick-works.

**Lumbering.** The lumbering was less simple. It was necessary to look out and build roads from the saw-mill to the roll-ways, and a road gang must be employed to keep these roads roughly in order. After the falling of the trees by the sawyers, and when the better part of the trunks had been cut into logs and the less valuable portions into shingle-bolts, logs and bolts were skidded by mules to the roll-ways, from which they were transferred to the wagons, and thence to the roll-ways again at the mill. It was found advantageous to make use of the dray or go-devil in the skidding. The mill was a small portable circular, with a 52-inch saw, run by a 20 horse-power portable engine. Its product, considering the quality of the logs and the mill, was excellent. The lumber was transferred directly from the saw to the lumber yard, where it was stacked in piles until called for. After the available logs about the first location of the mill had been sawed up the engine was used to run a shingle-mill, and when all the bolts had been disposed of the whole plant was removed to another site which had been prepared for it on the opposite side of the Arrow-head Peninsula, where the same process was again gone through with.

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Lumber and
Shingles.

The lumber produced was oak, pine and poplar. Shingles of pine and poplar were cut from slabs and defective logs, as well as from shingle-bolts, so that the waste, always very large on a portable circular mill, was reduced as far as possible.

Cord-Wood from
the Tops.

After the completion of the lumbering, the gangs were set at work cutting cord-wood from those parts of the trees which were left on the ground. This was done chiefly in anticipation of the wood-alcohol plant. The Arrow-head Peninsula is too far from Biltmore to furnish a supply of cord-wood for the Brick-works, with the present roads and consequent cost of transportation.

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IV.

**Personnel.**

The question of intelligent supervision in the case of a forest such as Biltmore is at the present day an exceedingly difficult one. Under our actual economic conditions the ability to produce favorable money results, while improving the forest, stands paramount. In other words, forester and lumberman must be combined. Either alone may be easily found; the two united in one man I have yet to discover. The plan which I adopted under the circumstances was to select a lumberman young enough to be willing to learn, old enough to have had practical experience in handling men and lumber on a large scale, and of sufficient foresight and enterprise to appreciate the possibilities of forestry, and to be willing to adopt it as his profession. Such a man I found in my assistant at Biltmore, Mr. C. L. Whitney, of Malone, in the Adirondack region of New York. During the preliminary examination and description of the forest Mr. Whitney was constantly with me; and the training which I was able to give him, combined with his previous acquaintance with the woods was sufficient to enable him to execute the comparatively simple improvement cuttings with safety and success. His own experience

31

in lumbering, on the other hand, enabled him to carry out the practical details of the
operations in an economical and workmanlike manner.

Under the supervision of the assistant forester a very small crew was at first
set to work cutting cord-wood. These men were very carefully watched, and
were gradually taught to spare and protect the young growth. From this nucleus
foremen were gradually found to take charge of other crews as the work increased,
and carry the principles in which they had been drilled into wider effect. It was found
necessary to enlarge the force very slowly, for the idea of any care for the next crop was
totally new to the men, and was slowly grasped in its full meaning. Hence arises the neces-
sity for giving steady employment to at least a portion of the force, for the work of
instruction is too cumbersome to be gone through with year by year.

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V.

The pecuniary results of this first year have not been unsatisfactory. In judging of them several considerations must be kept in mind. In the first place, the economic situation of Biltmore Forest is not a fortunate one. Its output, necessarily of no high grade, comes into direct competition with the low-class products of the enormous area of timber-land which surrounds it. Fire-wood in this region is of very little value beyond the cost of cutting and transportation, and a large portion of the product of Biltmore Forest must be fire-wood for many years to come. The price of the output of lumber also is influenced by the large quantity of lumber of inferior grade which mills in this region are not able to ship any distance to market. Especially must it be kept in mind that the output of the forest is sold at market prices in open competition. Biltmore Forest furnishes cord-wood to the Brick-works, ties to the Railroad, posts to the Agricultural Department, and lumber for different uses on the Estate, simply because it does so at prices which make it worth while for these departments to purchase of the Forest rather than elsewhere.

37

**Cost of Superintendence.** A word should also be said as to the cost of such superintendence as has already been described. For an area of less than 4,000 acres it is manifestly excessive. Further, a considerable amount of the time of the assistant forester was occupied with his personal training, and the working plan, the cost of which, since its operation will extend over many years, might not unfairly have been left in large part to subsequent accounts. The salary of the consulting forester, on the other hand, has not been included, because by far the larger part of it is chargeable to the working plan and other preliminary matters, and to preparing for the Columbian Exposition an exhibit of which this pamphlet is a part. To make the present statement valuable as an example to which contemplated work in forestry may be referred, the cost of superintendence might better be assumed at, say, 10% of the whole expense. The amount of attention given to the description, working plan, and Chicago exhibit, as well as to the general care of Biltmore Forest on account of its character as a country seat, would have sufficed for an area at least ten times as large under ordinary forest management.

**The Market.** On the other hand, it should be said that the Forest was fortunate in finding a ready market for its cord-wood, without which it would have been necessary to establish a wood-yard in Asheville, or a plant for the production of wood-alcohol. The money result in either case would, in all probability, have been equally good; but, as neither experiment was tried, no definite statement can be made. It was also fortunate in finding an equally ready market for its lumber and shingles on the Estate, although the whole

38

product was not so disposed of. It was found advantageous to sell a portion of it to outside buyers at a slightly higher price.

**Receipts and Expenses.**

The preliminary study for the working plan was begun early in February, 1892, and actual cuttings followed in May. The following statement covers the year from May 1, 1892, to April 30, 1893. But while it includes a year's expenses, the credit side of the account derives little benefit from the work that was done before June 30, 1892.

RECEIPTS AND EXPENSES OF BILMORE FOREST FROM MAY 1, 1892, TO APRIL 30, 1893.

EXPENSES.

<table><tbody><tr><td>Salary of assistant forester, and wages of laborers in forest</td><td>$4,677.29</td></tr><tr><td>Labor of horses and mules</td><td>1,786.28</td></tr><tr><td>Wages of sawyer and others operating saw and shingle mills</td><td>2,585.17</td></tr><tr><td>Interest and deterioration on wagons and minor machinery (10 %)</td><td>46.13</td></tr><tr><td>Interest and deterioration on saw-mill (10 %)</td><td>27.70</td></tr><tr><td>Interest and deterioration on engine and boiler (10 %)</td><td>90.00</td></tr><tr><td>Mill supplies and repairs</td><td>314.93</td></tr><tr><td>Tools and repairs on same</td><td>219.81</td></tr><tr><td>Office furniture and maintenance</td><td>164.45</td></tr></tbody><tfoot><tr><td></td><td>$9,911.76</td></tr></tfoot></table>

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Effect of the
Improvement
Cuttings.

So far as can be judged at this early date, the improvement cuttings seem
to have accomplished what was expected of them. The appearance of the forest
where they have passed is much improved, and the young trees which have been
set free are doing well. But, although it is too early to pronounce definitely upon
all their effects, two facts seem to have been established. These are, that large
trees surrounded by a dense growth of smaller ones may be felled and removed with compara-
tively very unimportant injury to the young crop, and that the additional cost of the
necessary care, beyond that of ordinary destructive lumbering, is so small as to be out of all
proportion to the result. If this latter fact should be established later on in other parts
of the United States, as there seems little reason to doubt that it will be, its importance to
the future success of forestry will be very great. Its value in practice is enormous.

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VI.

**The Forest as a Part of the Estate.** The treatment of Biltmore Forest must be somewhat influenced by the character of the Estate as a country residence, with its gardens, farms, deer-park, and roads carefully planned and planted. The forest management is consequently subject to occasional checks in cases where silvicultural measures would conflict somewhat with the immediate purpose of the landscape architect. These cases are fortunately rare, and the loss of interest in the forest management which they occasion is more than offset by the arboretum and forest planting experiments.

**Outline of the Working Plan.** The following sketch of the working plan after the improvement cuttings have been finished is an outline rather than a definite scheme. A working plan should above all be elastic, and especially so in the present instance, where the results of the improvement cuttings and the future economic position of the Forest are not fully known. The general objects of forest management at Biltmore are three in number. The first is profitable production, which will give the Forest direct utility. If this were absent, the existence of the Forest would be justified only as it lends beauty and interest to

44

the Estate. Second, a nearly constant annual yield, which will give steady occupation to a trained force, allow a permanent organization, and make regular operations possible. Third, an improvement in the present very mediocre condition of the Forest, without which its future would be nearly hopeless.

**Regular High Forest System.** These general objects are to be attained by means of two systems of management. On the east side of the French Broad the Regular High Forest System will be adopted, and the Selection System on the west side. In each case the rotation, or the length of time in which a second crop becomes ripe on the same ground after the removal of the first, was fixed at 150 years. In a theoretically perfect forest, under the Regular High Forest System, there would be as many sub-divisions as there were years in the rotation. The trees of each sub-division would be of equal age and would differ from those of the next sub-division by one year. In the present case, for instance, the oldest sub-division, bearing trees 150 years of age, would be ready for the axe; and the cutting, after passing over it, and then over all the others in succession, would reach it again at the end of 150 years.

The Selection Forest in its perfect state has trees of all ages mixed together everywhere instead of being separated into groups of uniform age. The annual yield is taken each year from all parts of the forest. But under such a method transportation would manifestly be too costly for American conditions. Consequently, the Localized Selection System was adopted in its place. Under it the annual yield comes from

45

a restricted portion during several years; then from another portion during a like period, and so on until the cutting has passed over the whole Forest. In the present case the yield will come from one-fifth of the area during each period of five years. Consequently the cutting will return over the same land once in twenty-five years.

**Compartments.** The first step in preparing the Biltmore working plan was to divide the Forest into Compartments of an average of about forty-two acres each, numbered consecutively from 1 to 92. This division was for convenience of reference, and in order to delimit land of approximately the same productive quality, on which, in the end, forints of the same kind and grade might be expected to grow. It also served to furnish an indispensable mode of reference to the different parts of the Forest. The lines on which these Compartments were made are natural ones, such as ridges, streams, and hollows, supplemented in very many cases by the old wood-roads which cross the Forest in every direction.

**Blocks.** The Compartments were united into Blocks, one on the west and two on the east side of the French Broad River. The Block is the unit of management, and is treated largely by itself, almost as though it were a separate forest, and were so placed and organized as to stand alone. Cuttings will be made in each Block every year, with the result that the total cost of transportation from the nearer and more distant parts of the forest will tend always toward an average. For silvicultural reasons also Blocks are necessary in order to restrict the annual cuttings to smaller areas, and to reduce the dangers from insects and other enemies.

46

VII.

Arboretum.

Under the direction of Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted a collection of trees and shrubs has been made with the intention of planting them out, when they have attained a proper size, along the line of a road to be called the Arboretum Drive. This road, about five miles in length, will run through some of the most beautiful portions of the Estate, and will be lined for a hundred feet on either side by the plants of the collection. It is the intention to make this Arboretum one of the finest in existence. There are already in the Nursery more kinds of trees and shrubs than there are in the Botanical Gardens at Kew, near London, and the number is being steadily increased. The climate will allow a larger variety of trees than that of any other large arboretum which has so far been begun, while the liberal plan of the work is intended to make the best use of so admirable an opportunity. A careful record of the treatment of each species is being, and will be, kept; while a Forest Botanical Library, already of considerable extent, will furnish the necessary aid to study.

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**Planting.**

After the subtraction of all land occupied for any definite purpose, there remains at Biltmore considerably more than 1,000 acres at present lying waste, but which is to be used later on for planting forest trees. This land, composed of old clearings, is situated largely on the tops and shoulders of the hills, on the side toward the river. For the sake of the landscape it is important that these areas should be planted with trees, while the opportunity which thus arises is valuable along many lines. The climate of Biltmore permits the successful growing of an exceedingly large number of species. The space available is very large, and the Nursery already established along the Swannanoa gives nearly perfect facilities for raising the seedlings. The plan upon which the forest planting is to be undertaken is a wide one and is likely to produce important results. We are acquainted with a great number of exotic species in their garden character: we know very few of them as to their adaptation to Forest uses. Of the silvicultural character of American trees we are almost equally ignorant. It is intended, therefore, to plant blocks of an acre or more of each of a very large number of American and foreign trees, assigning each to the character of land which it is most likely to occupy with advantage. These blocks are to consist of both pure and mixed forest, and a record is to be kept from the planting of the seed showing the yearly conduct of each species. Such an experiment may be expected, in the course of time, to add many important species to the useful forest flora of the country. While it is true that in general native trees are best there are, nevertheless very important instances where exotics have been exceedingly useful.

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The list of seedlings now being raised in the Nursery for forest planting includes twenty species, with an estimated total of 1,867,000 individuals. As may be inferred, the great majority of species for this work have not yet been planted, and those included above are largely standard kinds. The cost of raising young trees in a private nursery such as that at Biltmore, not including interest on the ground, or the price of the seed, may be roughly estimated from the statement that two year old transplanted Tulip-tree seedlings, standing in the nursery rows, cost $3.35 per thousand; and four year old transplanted White Pines, $4.85 per thousand.

## Value of the Work.

The continuation of the work at Biltmore along the lines already defined may be expected to yield much information of general value. The Arboretum, from its situation and extent, will aid powerfully in determining the value of very many kinds of trees for a large part of the country, and will offer admirable opportunities for their study. The forest planting may add new species to our list of commercially valuable trees, and discover new uses for those already known. It will add greatly to our scanty silvicultural knowledge of the trees which it will contain. For the Forest a still larger field of usefulness may be anticipated. The value of the methods already used in its treatment will be determined, new adaptations of the principles of forestry to American conditions will be developed, and information as to the business side of forest management will be gained. But above all, it will be useful in defining and helping to solve the problems with which American forestry must deal, and in awakening an interest in those practical details upon which its success in the future must so largely depend.

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