Practical forestry for beginners in forestry, agricultural students, woodland owners, and others desiring a general knowledge of the nature of the art

Front matter

PRACTICAL

VESTRY

I o h n i ■ ^. " i

Preface

In the following pages the author has endeavored to include those parts of the science and art of forestry which are of interest and importance to the general reader and beginner. It has been his endeavor also to make this book as practical as possible, so that the owner of a large tract of woodland, and the farmer with his wood-lot, or the owner of a country place, or those interested in the various industries connected with forests and forest products, may glean hints of value. The greatest difficulty has been in deciding what to exclude rather than include. It is by no means easy to select from the great mass of technical and general literature on this subject those points which are of value and interest to the general reader, to the owners of woodland, and beginners in general.

Beginning with Cotta, the father of forestry, numerous writers have expressed many of these facts before, but the selection and arrangement of the contents

VI PRACTICAL FORESTRY

are original. As far as the writer knows, no author in English, or in fact in any language, has presented the subject in the following arrangement and in such untechnical and popular yet accurate form. Forestry, when shorn of pedantry, simplified, and divested of technical details of little importance at present to the American, falls readily into place by the side of the cognate arts of horticulture and agriculture. The tendency on the part of European writers has been to amplify and extend the subject to the exhaustion of the merest detail, necessitating a long search through an immense amount of unimportant and uninteresting matter in order to find the points of most importance. In fact, the science and art of forestry have been much encumbered with unnecessary mathematics. " Mathematics must be the servant and not the mistress of silviculture." The Europeans have produced a very complex and difficult science out of one which is so simple that any man of ordinary intelligence may comprehend it.

Progress in this country is founded upon public opinion. Public opinion is dependent upon the degree of intelligence and educational advantages of the general public. The best way to educate people in a subject of this kind is to supply them with reliable literature written in plain language and available at a reasonable price. The neglect of our forests

PREFACE Vll

is simply due to ignorance, which it is hoped this book may help to overcome. Whether it will be successful or not, time alone can determine.

Forestry is both misunderstood and underrated in this country. When these misconceptions are dispelled the American people will handle the subject with true American spirit. The main point, which is not generally understood — in fact the pivot on which the whole subject rotates — is that we fail to rate the forest as a living perpetual resource. Coal, copper, and other resources become in time exhausted, but the forest if properly treated will yield an income forever. It will supply labor and feed other industries for all time if the rules of silviculture are rigidly practised. In agriculture, fertilizers must be used to replace what the plant removes; in forestry, the soil actually improves and yields ever-increasing returns until the maximum is reached, when under good management it remains the same for all time, ever yielding a crop of useful materials.

No subject is of more general interest. It should appeal to everybody. It is a many-sided subject. To the man in search of health or recreation and sport, such as fishing and hunting, and to the lover of Nature, the forest has many attractions. As a yielder of useful materials, a support to many industries, and a supplier of healthful labor, it has no equal. To the vm PRACTICAL FORESTRY

engineer it is of importance as a means of checking the destructive forces of Nature.

The host of inquiries which the author has received and the expressions on the subject by prominent educators and foresters have led him to believe that there is a definite place for such a book.

Although not primarily intended as a text-book, it may be advantageously used as a guide in secondary schools and other institutions where forestry deserves a place. It could be used to advantage in connection with commercial and physical geography. To the subject of Forest Geography there are four important sides, which have been treated more or less at length in this volume. The first relates to forest products and industries. This is an important branch of commercial geography with which every young man about to enter business life should be more or less familiar. The second relates to the influence the forest exerts in checking the destructive forces of Nature, the forest being, in fact, a protective blanket over the face of the earth. The third relates to the distribution of forests. It deals with those factors which produce the spread of forests and the barriers which prevent their extension. It explains the presence of prairies and deserts in one place and forest-growth in another. The fourth, which should be of great interest to geographical students, relates to our great reservations

PREFACE ix

and national parks. These reservations cover an area of about fifty million acres, a territory so large and varied that it is worthy some space in even primary geographies. They cover an area much larger than the whole of New England, three times as large as Greece, and almost five times as large as Switzerland; yet the establishment of these reservations has apparently only just begun.

The author desires to thank Dr. Joseph Rothrock, Forestry Commissioner for Pennsylvania; Dr. B. E. Fernow, Director of the New York State College of Forestry; and Prof. W. W. Rowlee, Assistant Professor of Botany, Cornell University, for many suggestions and favors.

Acknowledgments and thanks are due to Col. William F. Fox, Superintendent of Forests for the State of Xew York, Prof. Mark V. Slingerland, E. A. Sterling, and John C. Phillips for some of the photographs used in this volume.

If this book serves to convey practical information and to arouse interest in the subject throughout this country, and helps to produce a better treatment of our woodlands, its mission will have been fulfilled.

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

Preface v

PART I INTRODUCTORY I. Meaning of forest and forestry, and other INTRODUCTORY NOTES 1

II. Wood-lots on farms, forest estates, and the

RELATION OF SILVICULTURE TO THE KINDRED ARTS OF AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND LANDSCAPE GARDENING 12

III. The forest canopy, forest floor, and wood-mass 33

IV. The forest as an agent in modifying the sur-

face OF THE EARTH AND IN CHECKING THE DESTRUCTIVE FORCES OF NATURE.

1. The forest as a soil-former ....

2. The forest as a soil-improver

3. The forest as a soil-fixer ....

4. The forest as a flood-preventer and conservator

of moisture

5. The forest as a wind-break . . . .

6. The forest as a beautifier of the earth

7. The forest as a sanitary agent V. The geographical distribution of forests .

1. Aids to forest extension ....

xi

46 46 51 56

58 63 64 65

74 78

Xll

CHAPTER PAKT II PAGE

THE FORMATION AND TENDING OF

FORESTS

VI. The formation of forests . . . . . 91

VII. The tending of forests 143

1. Improvement cuttings 143

Part III The Industrial Importance Of

FORESTS

VIII. Forest industries and products

1. Utilization of forest refuse

3. Wood-pulp and cellulose

4. Maple sugar and sirup

5. Resin and turpentine .

6. Tanning materials

7. The destructive distillation of wood

8. Other common forest products .

IX. Forest trees and products of the tropics

PAET IV SUPPLEMENTAR Y X. The principal Federal and State reservations . 226

XI. A LIST OF FIFTY AMERICAN FOREST TREES, TWENTY- FIVE CONIFERS AND TWENTY-FIVE HARDWOODS . 252

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

A forest scene in Oregon

A Southern pinery

A fallen live oak covered with moss

A swamp forest along the Ocklawaha River, Fla.

A mangrove swamp on the coast of Florida .

At work on a denuded mountain-top

A road through a German forest

A rocky region above timber-line in the Alps

The desert of Utah

A scene on our Western prairies

Testing the quality of seeds ....

Planting at Axton in the Adirondacks .

Measuring with the calipers ....

A corner in the nursery at Axton .

Riding the logs in the Raquette River .

A spruce forest in Germany which has been

thinned

Corner of a compartment in a French pinery

A fire-lane in France

A shifting sand-dune on the coast of New Jersey A prairie scene in Alberta, Assiniboia, Canada Binding sticks into fagots in France A coniferous forest in Maine .

River-driving in the Adirondacks . ,A lumber scene in Oregon A sugar-maple forest in Northern New York The flower of magnolia glauca Map showing reserves and national parks

Frontispiece facing facing frequently facing facing facing facing facing facing

PAGE

26 43 49 50

XIV PRACTICAL FORESTRY

PAGE

The big trees of California 234

White pine 253

Norway spruce 256

Douglas fir .258

White oak 262

Black walnut 266

A shoot of Carolina poplar 272

Part I Introductory

CHAPTEE I

MEANING OF FOKEST AND FORESTRY, AND OTHER INTRO- DUCTORY NOTES

" The forest and water problems are perhaps the most vital internal questions of the United States." — President Roosevelt.

Forestry treats of the formation, care, purpose, and utilization of forests. It is founded on the natural sciences, the most important of which to the forester is botany. Forestry is primarily an art, or the skilful application of knowledge gained from many years of experience and experimentation. The purpose of a forest may be to check the destructive forces of nature, to yield timber and other products, or to beautify the earth. The term utilization relates to the process of harvesting, converting, and disposing of forest products. A forest is something more than a mere clump of trees. It includes not only trees, but other plants and many animals which play parts of more or less importance for good or bad.

A forest is a community or society of living things, the most important of which is the tree. The forest is a unit or organized whole consisting of three distinct parts — the canopy, the floor, and the wood-mass. The forester speaks of an assemblage of trees as a stand. The stand may be young or old, good or bad, thin or crowded, mixed or pure, regular or irregular. A pure stand consists of one species of trees, a mixed stand of more than one. In a regular stand the trees are all about the same age and size. In an irregular stand there is no uniformity. The forest canopy and forest floor are interdependent. The forest canopy protects the forest floor, and, in turn, upon the vigor and healthfulness of the canopy depends the nature of the forest floor. Upon the quality of both depends the rate of growth, and upon the rate of growth depend the quality and quantity of wood production. Animals such as earthworms loosen and ventilate the soil; bees, in many instances, fertilize the flowers and thus increase the seed crop, and in consequence the number of young trees; toads, bats, birds, and other animals keep in check injurious insects ; and countless toadstools, pufTballs, and other fungi hasten the decomposition of the leaves and sticks on the forest floor. The forest is a mass of living, struggling organisms. Hundreds of forces are at work for good or bad, to be restricted or favored by the forester for the production of such conditions that the forest may grow to the best advantage for the purpose intended.

Forest-culture, forestry, and silviculture are practically synonymous terms. The term " silva," in Latin, means forest, and in English is applied also to the forest-trees collectively of a region. We would say, for instance, that " the silva of the Pacific Coast consists mainly of conifers, or cone-bearing evergreen species, such as the redwood, pine, and spruce." The term " silva " is also applied to a descriptive list of the forest-trees of a particular region or country, as Sargent's Silva of North America. The term is in common use in the adjective " silvan," in the term " silvas," which are large wooded areas in South America, and in the proper names Pennsylvania and Transylvania. The term " arboriculture," from the Latin " arbor," a tree, is applied to the growing of trees for any purpose and in any way whatever — singly, in groups, or in the form of forests. Silviculture is therefore a part of the broader art of arboriculture.

Forests may be grown for other purposes than timber production, such as protection and adornment. Although, perhaps, the most important, wood is not the only important forest product. In the case of rubber or camphor, the wood is of minor importance.

The growing of forests for timber is often called timber-culture. This term has been extensively used in this country, especially in connection with the timber-culture acts of Congress, which granted land to the prairie settler on condition that he plant a specified portion of his tract in trees. These acts are no longer in force, but the term timber-culture is a good one for that part of silviculture in which timber production is the principal object.

The terms timber and lumber are used in a peculiar way in this country. Lumber usually means sawn or hewn stuff in merchantable form and of the smaller dimensions. The term timber is applied to the forest in the sense of standing timber, and to hewn or sawn stuff of the larger sizes, such as the timbers of a barn or of a ship. This use of the term lumber is peculiar to America. In Europe it refers to disused or discarded goods of any kind, and according to some authorities, is a modification of the word " Lombard," the Lombards having been in early times famous pawnbrokers. In England the words timber and wood goods are common. It is said that the American use of the word lumber originated in Boston, which was once a great lumber-port, because the lumbermerchants " lumbered " the wharves and streets of that city with their product.

Another common Americanism which is loosely applied is the word sturnpage. It ordinarily means standing timber considered with reference to its amount and value for cutting, so called because the amount cut is ascertained by counting and measuring the stumps.

A " virgin forest " is one in which there has been no cutting. It refers to natural and not planted forests. The term * second growth " is variously applied, but usually refers to forests which are not virgin, and which have not been planted.

The German term " forst," the French " foret," and the English " forest " have for many years implied care and protection. The removal of forests, without regard for their regeneration, is called deforestation. The formation of forests on deforested areas is called reforestation. The French word " reboisement," which means the same as reforestation, is sometimes used in English. The French " bois," the Spanish " bosque," the Italian " bosco'," the Dutch " bosche," the German " busch," and the English " bush " are probably all different forms of the same word. The term bush in the sense of woods is used in this country in the word " sugar-bush." A forest with undergrowth is called " the bush " in South Africa, Australia, and Canada. The term " scrub " is used in the same sense in Australia. A woods choked with underbrush is often called a " jungle." The term forest is seldom used by woodmen in this country. Good or bad, big trees or bushes, it is all called woods, which is a good generic name for such nondescript lands.

The forester should always have in mind the future crop. He should cut always with a purpose other than the mere reaping of the wood. He should consider the young promising growth which becomes the forest of the future. The keynote of forestry is perpetuity. Were one to enter the forest and cut only the best trees each time and leave the rest, this would not be forestry even if the operation were conducted with great care. Were one to enter a forest and cut only those trees which are over a certain diameter, this might and might not be forestry. If the forest consists of species of unequal value, the removal of the best would lead to the deterioration of the stand. The forest weeds or undesirable kinds of trees would be thus constantly favored. Although this is, perhaps, better than the common method of lumbering, it is like removing the ripe vegetables from a garden without disturbing the weeds. If there are no weeds in the garden, and no danger of weeds, this would be permissible. In forestry, one must have the future in mind, and the forester must work constantly for the proper maintenance of the soil and forest. If one has an irregular forest of spruce or pine, or any other species, or several species together, if they are of equal value, and then follows the rule of cutting only mature and undesirable trees, he would be practising forestry. By irregular forest is meant a forest consisting of trees of all ages. Were one to cut his forest clean, and plant it afresh, he would be practising forestry. Were one to cut his forest in such a way that sufficient seed trees will be left, and care for it in such a way that only desirable kinds will be allowed to grow, he would be practising forestry. In remote districts, however, a poor system is better than none, and in many instances our ideals must be sacrificed to meet existing conditions, so that if the forest is merely protected from fire much is accomplished.

In India, for instance, where forestry is well under way, as much is done as we can hope to do for some time in this country. This is well expressed in the words of Eibbentrop in his Forestry in British India: "All we can, in the majority of cases, succeed in doing, is to protect our forests as much as possible against fire, grazing, and other harmful interference, and to exploit them in such manner as to give natural reproduction the best possible chance, 'and to assist the regeneration of the natural forests by such silvicultural measures as the circumstances of each case may demand."

As Dr. Fernow says in his brochure on the Progress of Forest Management in the Adirondacks, three primary essentials must form the basis of an American system of forestry. They are as follows:

I. Better protection of forest property, including methods of taxation — a subject for legislation.

II. More thorough utilization of the forest crop — a subject of wood technology and development of means of transportation and harvesting.

III. Silvicultural methods of harvesting, so as to produce a desirable new crop, or else artificial reforestation, if that is more effective and cheaper — the main concern of forestry. These three phases of the subject will be treated more or less at length in the following chapters.

In this country, owing to the great abundance of wood in times past, and owing to the difficulty of enforcing laws in thinly populated forest districts, the forest has been abused. This is so in most new countries, such as Canada) United States of America, and Australia. In speaking of the destruction of forests in Australia for the sake of pasturage, the historian Froude says : " Trees so matchless ought to be preserved, but the soil which bears them is valuable, and they are doomed to destruction. Government makes law, but in a democracy the people do just as they please. Greed and practise are master; the laws are only paper." This, no doubt, is in part true. It is, however, not the fault of the democratic form of government. It is due to the fact that the people which constitute it are not equal to it. After all, what is the State in America? It is simply an organized community, the ruling powers of which are only persons which the people have chosen temporarily from their midst. The purchase of forest land, the management of forest land, or the sale of forest land depends upon what the majority of legislators may think best, and they, in turn, are supposed to comply with the wishes of the majority of their constituents. The wishes of the majority of the people in reference to the forest depend altogether upon their education and character — in short, public opinion, which is molded by our various means of education.

Every honest, well-informed man who believes in government will agree that the State is doing nothing more than its duty when it does the following on the grounds that the forest is necessary, first, because of the protection which it affords, and, second, because of the industrial importance of the products which it yields:

1. Each State should own and. control those districts where forestry can not be properly and profitably conducted by private parties.

2. The Federal Government should lend a helping hand, and, in addition, own and control large reservations and parks in those parts of the country which are noted for their beauty or natural wonders, and which, for other reasons, are of more importance to the country as a whole or to a large area of the country than to the State or States in which they may happen to be located.

3. Both the State and Federal Governments should cooperate with the private owner in many ways to inform him in reference to forestry matters, and to encourage and induce him to treat his forest land in the proper manner.

4. This cooperation may be applied in several forms, the most important of which are the following :

By the extinguishment and prevention of forest fires; by the construction of roads and fire-lanes; by the establishment of schools of forestry and chairs of forestry in agricultural colleges; by the establishment of forestry experiment stations and model forests; by fair taxation; by giving information on the subject to all who may desire it; by the distribution of literature on the subject; by the introduction of valuable species from foreign countries; by the establishment of seed-testing stations ; by the distribution of seeds and young trees to those who will care for them ; by the establishment of lecture courses to the people in connection with agricultural and horticultural meetings; by aiding in the eradication of insect pests; by encouraging the preservation of beneficial animals, such as birds and toads, and by aiding all worthy associations and societies which may have these objects in view.

CHAPTEE II

WOOD-LOTS ON FARMS, FOREST ESTATES, AND THE RELA- TION OF SILVICULTURE TO THE KINDRED ARTS OF AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND LANDSCAPE GAR- DENING

' ' The preservation of our forests is an imperative business necessity. We have come to see clearly that whatever destroys the forest, except to make way for agriculture, threatens our well-being. " — President Roosevelt.

Silviculture, agriculture, and horticulture blend to such extent that separation by hard and fast lines is impossible. Although the spheres of each are fairly well-defined, they often overlap or are purposely combined with mutual advantage. Many claim that silviculture is a branch of agriculture, and that the main difference between the two is that an agricultural crop is available every year, while a wood-crop, although formed every year, is not available until the trees reach merchantable size, which often covers a period of more than a century. Another difference, it is claimed, is that " culture " in agriculture implies stirring and loosening the soil, while in silviculture it merely means the bestowal of

skilful labor on the forest in many ways, for the pur- 12 pose of aiding and improving growth. These distinctions, however, are much more apparent than real. The fact that it often requires a century to produce a fine grade of timber does not imply that a forest, when planted, yields nothing until maturity. A spruce forest at first may consist of thousands of little trees per acre. At the end of ten years it should contain not more than 4,000 trees, at the end of twenty years 2,000, at the end of forty years 1,000, at the end of sixty years 500, at the end of eighty years 350, and at maturity (one hundred years) 250. Thus in ninety years fifteen-sixteenths of the number of trees and a large volume of wood have been removed from time to time by a careful system of thinning, yielding material of ever-increasing value as the forest grows older. In the case of irregular forests, which are forests consisting of trees of all ages mixed together, managed according to the selective system — that is, cutting here and there throughout the forest whenever trees are mature or whenever for the good of the forest their removal is prudent — an amount depending upon the size of the forest and the rate of growth may be cut every year, or every now and then.

There may be, therefore, with forest as with agricultural crops a small but frequent yield. In the method of culture there is apparently a great difference, but the ends attained are practically the same. The farmer carefully tills the soil to pulverize and loosen it, and to prevent the growth of weeds. A layer of well-tilled soil on the surface and a mulch or layer of humus have practically the same effects. Instead of tilling the soil, the forester increases its moisture content and porosity by encouraging the formation of humus. The roots penetrate to deep layers of the soil for food material, much of which is deposited on the forest floor in the leaves, twigs, and wood. This material rots, and in rotting forms food for the roots. In this way the fertility of the forest soil is maintained, and, in fact, increased without the application of manure. Weeds are kept in check by regulating the quantity of light which filters through the forest canopy, and although there are weeds which endure shade, these are usually not aggressive. The growth of trees which have been planted in rows may be increased surprisingly by cultivation and application of manure, as with corn, especially in youth. In fact, in the tight soil of the Western plains cultivation is necessary until the trees reach such a size that their canopy prevents the growth of grass and protects the soil. By the " plains " is here meant the territory east of the one-hundredth meridian. West of this line, extending to the Rocky Mountains, are the " prairies."

The treelessness of the plains is due mainly to the fineness of the soil, or to fire and grass, rather than to a lack of moisture. After trees are once well started in the plains district, by careful cultivation they grow almost as well, if not quite as well, as in Eastern regions.

A crude kind of silviculture may be practised in all regions where wood will grow and where wood has value. Wherever measures are employed to insure the regeneration of the forest, there silviculture begins. The leaving of seed trees is the first step. The great difference between lumbering and forestry is that in one there is no concern whatever for the young growth and the future forest, in the other there are always other objects in view than the mere reaping of the wood-crop. Intensive systems of management, however, belong to thickly populated agricultural districts. Silviculture is the consequence of agricultural and industrial development. Some of the most productive and best managed forests of the world belong to large cities. In a thickly populated country, more or less isolated from other countries, forestry pays well, even on good agricultural soil. Soils may be divided in this regard into three distinct classes : The first, those which are so rocky that agriculture is impossible; second, such sandy soils as exist in vast quantities in our South, where forestry and agriculture may be combined, but where a large proportion of the area should be kept in forest; and, third, good soil, which is mainly agricultural, but where, in parts, forestry may be practised with profit. There are, then, absolute forest soils, soils mainly agricultural, and soils mainly forestal.

True waste-lands include all those soils which are incapable of producing crops of any kind without reclamation.

Saxony, in Germany, has an area of 1,499,300 hectares (5,800 square miles), with a population of 3,500,000 people, with an average of 603 per square mile; 27.4 per cent of this country is in forest, mostly spruce. The little trees are raised in nurseries, planted carefully, thinned from time to time, and finally, at the end of eighty years, cut clean. Then the area is planted again, and so on for centuries. This system of procedure is not essentially different from the production of an agricultural crop. The growing of willows for basketry is practically an annual agricultural crop.

Several farmers in the plains district of our West have planted trees and reaped a handsome profit from fuel-wood and fence-posts in a few years, and have, at the same time, protected their orchards and produced fruit which would have been impossible without the shelter which the trees afforded.

Southern California has been completely changed in appearance by the planting of exotics, especially species of the genus Eucalyptus. This has been all due to the efforts of individual farmers. When the swampy lands of Gascony were reclaimed by tree culture, a new province was practically added to France.

Many claim that individuals can not be expected to plant trees for timber, because life is too short, and the investment, which is increasing at a rapid pace by compound interest, is too long unavailable and too slow in producing returns. In the North, where growth is slow, this is, perhaps, so, but in the South merchantable timber can be produced in much less time. Short rotations, and by rotation is meant the length of time from planting to reaping the crop, bring forestry within the means of the farmer. It is true that the State should own those forest areas which are needed for protective purposes, but it is Government cooperation, as in road construction, that is needed, as much as State ownership or State control. Let us hope for the time when our people will be educated to a point where they will care for their own forests as well as, if not better than, the State can ever do it, and with such willingness that coercion would be both unnecessary and pernicious. The more civilized people become the more they work for the good of the community and of posterity. Some day men may have the same interest in the landscape in general that they have in ornamenting their own homes. At any rate a very large proportion of our forests are destined to remain in private hands. The Government will be doing a very great deal, and infinitely more than it does at present, when it properly protects a man's person and property from the carelessness and maliciousness of others, when it taxes property in a fair manner, when it owns and controls those forests necessary for protective purposes, and when it gives to its people all the information, gratis, they may desire in reference to the management of their lands. The ill treatment of forest land is due very often to ignorance. In many cases the owner of the land knows no better. There is no more reason why a farmer should knowingly illtreat or neglect his woods than his corn-field. Farmers in many parts of this country to-day could and would grow locust, poplar, chestnut, spruce, and other trees with profit if they knew how. The Bureau of Forestry at Washington is doing good work in encouraging individual efforts in this line. Every State, in fact, should have a division of forestry to investigate, experiment, inform, and advise all those who are in need of help. Merchantable white pine has grown in Pennsylvania on poor soil without man's help in any way in thirty years. Large timber can not be produced in that length of time, but merchantable materials, such as are now used in the sawmills of the Eastern United States, are often considerably under that age.