H. GAFFRON 



not only the larger area of commercial forest land but also the more 

 valuable timber from the standpoint of accessibility and of quality. 

 "The main objective of this group is to market their lumber as speedily 

 as possible" (3). Management according to the principles of far- 

 sighted modern forestry is encountered only on an estimated two 

 per cent of the total area. The practices of commercial competition 

 are such that in general only the State can afford to look ahead two 

 or three generations. 



Meanwhile, the waste continues. According to N. G. Brown (1) 

 less than half of the total amount of wood cut in this country is ulti- 

 mately utilized. Hence it is imperative that the efforts of the Depart- 

 ments of Agriculture and of the Interior to remedy the situation 

 should have the conscious support of every citizen. Unless we plan 

 for a permanent forestry everywhere, not only our supplies of oil but 

 also those of wood will be gone in about seventy years and the country 

 dependent upon foreign sources. No wonder that scientists begin to 

 turn toward the oceans as a source of products of photosynthesis; it 

 is estimated that the amount of carbon assimilated by marine algae 

 surpasses by four or five times the yield of the land plants (14). But 

 when can we expect to replace wood by plankton? The journals of 

 chemical industry often display an advertisement showing a magnifi- 

 cent mountain forest with a caption from which we quote: "Ever 

 see a forest through a chemist's glasses? Do you see . . . plastics . . . 

 plywood . . . laminated beams . . . silk . . . smokeless powder . . . rolls 

 of newsprint . . . movie film . . . All these and many more items of 

 beauty, strength, and utility the chemist makes from wood, holding 

 out brighter hopes for a better future." If man continues to consume 

 the products of photosynthesis in the way he does at the present time 

 this kind of better future may not last very long.* 



The understanding of photosynthesis becomes essential if we are 

 to solve part of these rapidly approaching difficulties, not in order to 

 reproduce the process technically on a big scale but rather in order to 



* Two publications have recently appeared on the subject of our dwindling 

 supply of wood: "Forestry and the public welfare," in Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, 89, 399 

 (1945); and "What's happening to the timber," by R. A. H. Thompson, in 

 Harper'' s Magazine, issue of August, 1945, page 125. The instructive maps (Figs. 

 1 cmd 2) from the latter article are reproduced through the courtesy of Harper's 

 Magazine. 



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