Introduction

IED FORESTR '%> -M0 ^:: : :'^iMM^ ; APPLIED FORESTRY APPLIED FORESTRY WRITTEN PARTICULARLY FOR OWNERS AND MANAGERS; EXPLAINING CERTAIN METHODS OF FORESTERS TOWARD CONSERVING PROPERTY VALUES AND PROVIDING MAXIMUM RETURNS FROM CURRENT OPERATIONS 1 f ^ '^Jly^roJJi pt&^WJlC) APPLETON & SEWALL CO.. INC. FORESTERS AND SURVEYORS, 156 FIFTH AVENUE. NEW YORK Copyright n;i2 By James W. Sewall Old Town, Maine CCI.A3J2880 APPLIED FORESTRY HiX^TiL much is a tract of forest worth? You can buy rf^or so much. But is it worth more or less than that? You can sell it for so much. But are you getting what it is really worth or will the buyer lose money on it? You can make it produce a certain amount of lumber. But could it be producing more, or are your operations depleting your principal without your knowledge? The admitted fact that no owner of a forest can do more than make a guess as to the actual value of his property, unless its value is determined by scientific measurements, suggests the wide scope for the application of modern methods in the efficient management of forest properties. An ignorance of basic worth at once betrays an ignorance as to the proper methods of conservation. The best of intentions, unwisely directed, may be doing more to lessen the value of property than careless waste for the sake of present profits. When scientifically taken, profits can often be greatly increased without harming the remaining values. In fact, as in all scientific management, scientific forestry works for the maximum returns for both present and future by avoiding needless waste and destruction and by making more intensive use of the present crop. It is because of the deplorable ignorance of actual values, and of proper methods of protecting future values, that there has, within recent years, gone up a great cry as to the need of forest conservation. So wasteful have been the methods, even under supposedly well regulated management, and so flagrant have been the abuses under the heedless management of those caring only for present profits, that a real danger has threatened the natural woodland resources of this country. The doleful picture of a country with a depleted and inadequate supply of wood mate- rial, held up before the eyes of the public to arouse sentiment against the fearful wastes going on in forest operations, is no The need of definite knowledge Wasteful methods Eight-year old burnt land ; the soil was cleaned off. idle fancy. It needs only the application of figures to project the ratio of depletion into the future with a certainty of showing what a few generations or even a few decades would do toward the serious impairment of the practical supply. What is true on a large scale as to the mismanagement of forest properties, is manifestly true on the smaller scale since the large is but the aggregate of the small. In the matter of forest preservation America is far behind European nations in the adoption of sound policies. Even some of the Asiatic nations have exerted and are now exerting much labor in enhancing or at least up-keeping forest values, by methods which we in this country are only beginning to appreciate. The forests of America are ample for our lumber demands -- --tremendous as they are if the cutting is carried on with a proper regard for future growth. But it is a well known and admitted fact that the cut of many of our more valuable and sought after trees is greatly exceeding their growth. The certain rise in the values of such trees in the immediate future should of itself be sufficient to prevent owners from sacrificing for immediate profits trees that if allowed to grow would yield more later than the money possibly could if obtained now and invested in even the most profitable of enterprises. But it is non-appreciation of these facts rather than a willful Winter transportation. choosing of a short-sighted policy that affords the greatest danger to our resources for the future. The steps now being taken in Europe and Asia for the preservation and extension of the forests have not been so much due to wise foresight as to actual necessity. In certain parts of those countries a condition has been reached which has more than fulfilled the warnings of cautious men of previous generations, and by methods of unscientific wood utilization even less wasteful than those which are being complained of in America today. It is the pressure of this situation, together with their more advanced and more intensified ideas of civilization, which have resulted in the efforts of the present and of the recent past to protect the forest properties of those countries from further depletion. The principles of the efficient management of forest property can never be fully appreciated by considering only a limited area. It is only in the observation of the more conspicuous instances that one may understand the result of tendencies which otherwise might pass unnoticed. An owner who knows only his own forest operations, and those only by guess work and second-hand information from others who reach their conclusions by guess work, often lacks the perspective which enables him to see his own opportunities for conservation in their true light. It is for this reason that the study of forestry as a whole is a most important one either for the owner or for his advisers. The day has passed when guess work, either their own guess A lesson rom abroad Value of wide study Four classes concerned The land owner work or that of their lieutenants, can satisfy the demands of progressive business men. A brief outline of the principal ideas underlying forestry, and their application to efficient management of forest properties, is of value in moulding one's opinions, and turning them in the direction of obtaining maximum returns. But the actual use of those ideas as applied to any particular piece of woodland will vary greatly, so that much practical experience is needed to enable one to make the most of them. There are, broadly speaking, four classes of people who are concerned with forests: the land owning class; the operators, who cut the standing growth; the mill men, who transform that growth from raw material to finished products; and the con- -- sumer. These classes at times may be interwoven, one man -- may belong to all classes, but there are always found these main divisions. The land owner, unless interested in cutting operations also, i s chiefly concerned in his property from the standpoint of an investment. He de- sires to know, first of all, whether or not his money, in- vested in forest prop- erties, constitutes a safer, more profitable, and more desir- able investment than if otherwise employ- ed. This can be de- termined not alone from the present re- turns from his investment, but must take into considera- tion the future value of the property. If present returns are eating into the prin- Thrifty spruce growth. Land like this should be a source of perpetual income. Note the . vigorous reprod,uctti- on. cipal unawares, and t jie property is los- . . "in&e in actual, val, ue 8 so that a future sale would involve a depreciation which would swallow up present and intervening profits, then the investment value of his property is in question and must be given fundamental consideration. If it is determined that the property constitutes a profitable and satisfactory investment the next problem which the owner must consider is whether or not he is getting the most out of his investment. It may be that a given piece of property, while profitable as a forest, could be cleared, and used for agricultural or other purposes, and thus yield a greater profit. If so, the forest must go, if maximum returns from the investment are desired. Before a wise decision to clear a tract of forest and convert it into agricultural lands can be made, it is necessary to know whether the nature of the soil is such as will be most advantageous for field crops that could be handled at a profit in that locality, or whether it is such as might in time better support an artificially or naturally replanted forest. In some cases the investment of the capital necessary to obtain maximum results in the long run is not possible to the present owner, and he must either sacrifice his forest, or hold it with the practical certainty of depreciation unless it is properly preserved. Under the pressure of lack of capital, a sale is sometimes made at a low figure, based on present conditions, while the opportunity of preservation and enhancing the value through wise management, being unknown, is not figured as an asset, and the owner loses heavily through lack of knowing what his property is really worth. If he knew its prospective value, as well as its present value, he could often sell at a premium what he otherwise would give away. In buying property, however, the conditions are reversed, and the buyer may easily make a false estimate of the prospective value of a forest, and so fail to realize