er to gain more through other investments. The
state itself will engage more and more in forestry, with the result
of making its principles understood and endorsed. Stumpage values will
increase. Immature timber will have a sale value, lessening the term
of investment. Gradually the business will get on a sound production
basis, better for the consumer, better for the state supported by
a forest income, and more profitable for the grower. Instead of
capitalizing bad management and the sacrifice of the consumer,
which in effect it does now by forcing the prospective grower to
calculate on covering unnecessary cost in the price received, it
will capitalize the earning power of forest land.

While final adjustment on this basis is still in the future, it is
by no means entirely dependent upon popular foresight. The process
is going on constantly, whether we know it or not. The sun is still
behind the horizon, but the day is sure. Many Western timber owners
are still in too dim a light to make their footsteps certain; others
have a high vantage ground where dawn already lights the path.

CHAPTER III

FORESTRY AND THE FOREST

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF FOREST GROWTH

Whether the lumberman's judgment of economic influences leads him to
be optimistic or otherwise as to the profit of forestry in general,
he is most interested in the particular forest with which he has
to deal. He can neither accept nor dismiss the proposition
intelligently, much less put his ideas into actual practice, without
knowing something of the capability of his land to respond to his
effort. "What methods are best, what will they cost, and what will
be the result?" are questions which arise at the very outset. They
lead at once into the domain of technical forestry.

With us forestry has not been practiced long enough to furnish
demonstrated examples with which to answer such questions. We can,
however, profit by experience gained elsewhere, for the laws which
govern tree life are as universal as those which govern the life of
men and animals. In dealing with new species and new environments
we have no great difficulty in judging their future from their
past, which lies written plainly for those who care to study it.

While to some extent trees require elements obtainable only from
the soil, they are more independent in this respect than most other
forms of vegetation. Soil influences forest trees mainly by its
physical character, especiall