EDITORIAL 



301 



(2) that this be regarded as a beginning with 

 a view of ascertaining the possibility of for- 

 estry, rather than an attempt to establish 

 an organized system of forestry over their 

 entire holdings; (3) that to accomplish this 

 object they associate themselves together, 

 either through their trade associations, or 

 by a new association, in order that through 

 cooperation and partnership the expenses of 

 forestry may be reduced to a minimum; 

 (4) that each owner set aside from 1,000 to 

 10,000 acres as a practical demonstration 

 ground; (5) that there be employed by the 

 association a forester to direct the technical 

 work, his salary and expenses to be properly 

 prorated among all the members; (6) that 

 each owner employ such local guards or 

 rangers as are necessary to carry out the 

 fire regulations, restrictions of cuttings, etc. 



Another significant point in his ad- 

 dress was the warning that if the lum- 

 bermen do not themselves take up this 

 matter, the public, following the present 

 tendency toward restrictive legislation, 

 will take it in hand. "My own pro- 

 gram," he said, "would be for the pri- 

 vate owners to recognize that they have 

 a responsibility to handle the property 

 so that it will not result in an impov- 

 erishment of a state, and that the state 

 should recognize its responsibility to aid 

 the private owners in carrying out the 

 necessary conservative management." 



This falls in very appropriately with 

 the discussion of state regulation of 

 timber cutting, which is printed in the 

 pages of American Forestry this 

 month 



While there is an opening for for- 

 estry with early returns through leav- 

 ing the small timber for a second cut, 

 Mr. Graves pointed out that real for- 

 estry demands that reproduction be pro- 

 vided for. The long-time investment 

 involved in planting trees on defor- 

 ested land is not under average condi- 

 tions attractive to lumbermen and Mr. 

 Graves did not urge it. On this, again, 

 his advice was practical and to the 

 point : 



If you should ask my advice as to whether 

 you should buy denuded lands in the south 

 and plant them on a large scale as an in- 

 vestment, I should advise against it. Tn my 

 judgment the question of the financial returns 

 from private forestry should not be looked 

 at from a theoretical' standpoint of purchas- 

 ing land and planting trees, but rather from 

 the standpoint of the management of forests 

 already under timber. I believe that the 



average American lumberman is not much 

 more mterested in natural reproduction than 

 he IS in plantations. Nevertheless I be- 

 lieve that the question of reproduction is 

 well worth your attention on practical 

 grounds, even though you have not the in- 

 terest of the owners who are planning a her- 

 itage for their children and grandchildren, 

 or of the corporations organized on such a 

 permanent basis as to look far into the fu- 

 ture. Already in the best settled portions of 

 our country land well stocked with young 

 growth brings a higher price than denuded 

 land. Even the land speculator who has no 

 interest in permanent forestry may well take 

 this into account. Reproduction can be se- 

 cured naturally in most cases where a sec- 

 ond cut is contemplated. I believe that it is 

 emphatically worth while, in the first place, 

 for the sake of the increased sale value of 

 natural forest land after the present stand has 

 been removed, if it is then well stocked with 

 young growth. In the second place, I be- 

 lieve that the permanent interests of the lum- 

 ber business not only justifv but demand such 

 a handling of your forest property. 



When such sound advice as this is 

 taken to heart by the lumberm«n of the 

 United States we shall be very much 

 nearer the solution of our forestry prob- 

 lems than we are today and this great 

 industry, one of our greatest, will be 

 on a much sounder basis than it is at 

 present, with our diminishing timber 

 supply. 



It may perhaps be added that while 

 Mr. Graves did not recommend exten- 

 sive planting to the lumbermen as a 

 business venture, a large amount of 

 planting must be done to secure the 

 future, at least in the eastern United 

 States, and as it is not attractive for 

 the individual, the state must come in 

 here, to do what the individual can- 

 not do. 



5^ J^ $« 



Misrepresentation 



The report of the minority of the 

 House Committee on Agriculture on 

 the Weeks Bill contains certain mis- 

 representations of fact so palpable that 

 it seems impossible that they could have 

 been put into a report, presumably pre- 

 pared with some care, without delib- 

 erate intent. 



For example, the statement that the 

 consensus of expert opinion of the en- 

 gineers of the world is to the effect 

 that deforestation or reforestation of a 



