THE WORK OF THE GOVERNMENT 

 IN FOREST PRODUCTS 



By HENRY S- GRAVES, Forester of the United States 

 An address delivered at the opening of the Forest Products Laboratory, June 4, 1910 



THE United States is now facing 

 the problem of forest conserva- 

 tion which must be solved by 

 every country some time during its his- 

 tory. The original American forests 

 were unexcelled anywhere in the world. 

 Not only did they cover a vast area, 

 but they were characterized by trees of 

 great age and size, and by an unusual 

 variety of valuable species. Heretofore 

 we have drawn chiefly upon the original 

 supply of timber, and the bulk of the 

 lumber used in this country to-day is 

 still from trees over 150 years of age. 

 In spite of the rapid rate of cutting 

 and the destruction of forests by fire, 

 ample supplies have been made avail- 

 able by the opening of new regions 

 through the extension of railroads and 

 through the development of logging en- 

 gineering. The process, however, can- 

 not be continued indefinitely. Already 

 the end of the virgin stipply of timber 

 is clearly in sight, and all thoughtful 

 men who are familiar with the condi- 

 tions appreciate that there is before us 

 a problem which verv profotmdly af- 

 fects the welfare of the country. 



The problem of forest conservation 

 must be worked out from two stand- 

 points ; first, ])y securing the greatest 

 ];>ossible economy in the utilization of 

 forest products, and, second, by pro- 

 ducing new supplies through forest 

 growth. 



At present, there is a great loss in 

 the utilization of forest products, and 

 the production of new supplies is en- 

 tirely inadequate to meet the require- 

 ments of the people in the future. 

 Within recent years great progress has 

 been made in the protection of forests 



from fire. The loss from that source 

 has been greatly reduced, although 

 there is still an enormous amount of 

 destruction of young growth by fire, 

 and in some sections fire has almost 

 entirely prevented forest reproduction. 

 One of the most important aims of the 

 forestry movement has been to bring- 

 about not only the protection of stand- 

 ing timber from fire and other agencies, 

 but also the replacement of forests as 

 they are cut and the establishment of 

 new stands of timber on denuded lands. 



Forestry, however, does not stop with 

 the growth of trees. It concerns itself 

 equally with the disposal and utilization 

 of the products. The two branches of 

 forestry, forest utilization and forest 

 production, are inseparably related. 

 The market for products is one of the 

 factors most controlling the selection of 

 species to be grown and the methods 

 of handling woodlands for forest 

 growth. The study of forest products 

 is, therefore, one of the most important 

 lines of work of the Forest Service. 



The fundamental purposes of the 

 work of the Service in products are, 

 first, to bring into use the greatest pos- 

 sii)lc amount of the products of the for- 

 ests with the least ]')OSsible waste, and. 

 second, to ])lace these products to their 

 best use. In other words, the Service 

 aims to aid in making the material 

 which can be obtained from the forest 

 meet in the highest degree the real re- 

 quirements of the people. This broad 

 principle is the foundation of the work 

 which will be done at and in coimection 

 with this laboratory. 



In its work in pnxlucts, the Forest 

 Service keeps in view two objects : 



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