OUR FOREST RESERVATIONS. 



117 



upon the soil of these two classes of products is very different. Agri- 

 cultural crops being removed when mature, practically in their entirety, 

 impoverish the soil, while forest crops, being removed only in part 

 and then at long intervals of time, have an opposite effect, as they 

 for the most part enrich the soil. 



For many reasons it is highly important that even in agricultural 

 regions a varying proportion of the land should remain in forest, not 

 only for the direct value of the products which it affords and its 

 value in enriching the soil, but for its beneficial influence upon the 

 adjacent cultivated fields which it is not necessary for me to recount 

 here. 



The Forest Reservations are still the Haunts op the Rarest and 



Largest Game that the Country affords. Stanislaus 



Reservation, California. 



If it be desirable that a certain proportion of our agricultural 

 lands be kept as woodland, it is important that they be made to pro- 

 duce desirable products in the largest degree consistent with economy. 

 This can only be brought about by a rational system of management, 

 where skill and foresight is exercised to as great a degree as in the 

 successful production of agricultural crops. 



Although much might be said regarding the importance of well- 

 managed woodland in agricultural regions, it is to the vast area of 

 non-agricultural land in this country that the application of practical 

 forestry will be of incalculable value. It is highly important that 

 our non-agricultural lands be made to contribute toward our national 



