ening the limbs.

CHAPTER VII

FORESTRY

STUDY I. WHAT FORESTRY IS AND WHAT IT DOES

Although Forestry is not a new idea but, as a science and an art, has
been applied for nearly two thousand years, there are many persons who
still need an explanation of its aims and principles.

Forestry deals with the establishment, protection and utilization of
forests.

By establishment, is meant the planting of new forests and the cutting
of mature forests, in such a way as to encourage a natural growth of new
trees without artificial planting or seeding. The planting may consist
of sowing seed, or of setting out young trees. The establishment of a
forest by cutting may consist of the removal of all mature trees and
dependence upon the remaining stumps to reproduce the forest from
sprouts, or it may consist of the removal of only a portion of the
mature trees, thus giving the young seedlings on the ground room in
which to grow.

By protection, is meant the safeguarding of the forest from fire, wind,
insects, disease and injury for which man is directly responsible. Here,
the forester also prevents injury to the trees from the grazing and
browsing of sheep and goats, and keeps his forest so well stocked that
no wind can uproot the trees nor can the sun dry up the moist forest
soil.

[Illustration: FIG. 122.--A Forest of Bull Pine Cut on Forestry
Principles. (Photograph taken on the Black Hills National Forest, South
Dakota.)]

By utilization, is meant the conservative and intelligent harvesting of
the forest, with the aim of obtaining the greatest amount of product
from a given area, with the least waste, in the quickest time, and
without the slightest deterioration of the forest as a whole. The
forester cuts his mature trees, only, and generally leaves a sufficient
number on the ground to preserve the forest soil and to cast seed for
the production of a new crop. In this way, he secures an annual output
without hurting the forest itself. He studies the properties and values
of the different woods and places them where they will be most useful.
He lays down principles for so harvesting the timber and the
by-products of the forest that there will be the least waste and injury
to the trees which remain standing. He utilizes the forest, but does not
cut enough to interfere with the neighboring water-sheds, which the
forests protect.

[Illustration: 123.--A White Pine Plantation, in Rhode Island, Where the
Crown