392 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



Governor Davidson, speaking for the 

 state, set forth with abundant facts its 

 relation to this national institution that 

 has been placed in Wisconsin with the 

 cooperation of the state. He used an 

 array of statistics in regard to the for- 

 est products of the state, which are 

 just being made available through joint 

 investigations of the United States and 

 Wisconsin forest services. Of the 

 inter-dependence of natural resources, 

 the governor well said : 



Every one of our great natural resources 

 exerts far-reaching influence. Every industry 

 in this country has profited vastly by the ex- 

 istence of our iron and coal deposits. In the 

 same way, every industry in the United States 

 has been helped — indeed, has been more than 

 helped : has been in part created—by an 

 ab.mdant supply of the mcst usef.il kinds of 

 timber. 



The forest, in fact, bears a relation to 

 other resources and to their dependent in- 

 du'^t ies which is entirely peculiar. If we 

 speak of the right use of the forest, and 

 understand the full meaning of our words, 

 we know that we cover not only the products 

 which come from the trees themselves, but 

 the influence which the forest bears to re- 

 sources and industries outside of itself. If 

 we speak of forest waste, we should bear in 

 mind that our meaning extends not only to 

 wood that is not used, but to soil which can- 

 not be used, water which cannot be used, im- 

 provements which cannot be used, and even 

 power which cannot be used, because of the 

 misuse of that controlling factor, the forest. 



I want to make very clear this point — that 

 when we misuse the forest, we waste not 

 only its products, but, also, other very im- 

 portant resources. Nature has placed in ef- 

 fect a direct and vital relation between for- 

 ests and soils, and forests and streams, that 

 must be heeded by man if he is to reap a 

 full harvest from any of these resources. 



And of waste in lumbering, he said 

 fand in Wisconsin people know some- 

 thing about this) : 



It is of great importance to all wood-using 

 industries of the United States to bear in 

 mind that our present imperfect use of the 

 forest also causes great waste of wood itself, 

 which is a most important material. This 

 waste begins when the lumberman first sinks 

 his ax into the tree in the woods, and does 

 not end until the piece of wood is fitted into 

 final form and goes into use. We waste about 

 half of the tree getting the other half into 

 useful form. It has been the practice to 

 leave a considerable part of the tree, and 

 oftentimes the very best part, in the stump. 



A lot of wood is wasted in the tops. Many 

 trees are cut and felled, but never taken 

 out of the woods, because they are in part 

 defective. Yet they contain much souiid 

 wood. In the old white pine operations in 

 Michigan and Wisconsin, only prime logs 

 were taken. Lumbermen working near these 

 old operations during the past few years 

 found it profitable to take out a considerable 

 number of these which still remain sound. 

 Many logs are also lost. Some are left in 

 the woods, but more sink into the streams. 

 Probably as much as twenty-five per cent 

 of the wood which is cut down in the forest 

 is left there to decay. 



Mr. Graves set forth the work and 

 plans of the service of which he is the, 

 head, as expressed in this new realiza- 

 tion of its ideals. His address, "The 

 Work of the Government in Forest 

 Products," is printed elsewhere in this 

 magazine, as is the address of Mr. 

 Goggins, of the American Paper and 

 Pulp Association, setting forth the rela- 

 tion of his constituency to this work. 



Captain White gave some instances 

 showing the early interest of the lum- 

 bermen in the work represented by the 

 new laboratory. Among others, he 

 made the point, a favorite one with 

 him, and a just one, of the cost of con- 

 servation. On this he said : 



Once the farmer reaped and put nothing 

 back for the soil. He gathered all, and the 

 consumer got the benefit of cheap farm prod- 

 ucts. But he has now learned that he must 

 put back into the soil the chemical food nec- 

 essary to sustain it. He must add this to 

 the cost of the product, and the consumer 

 must pay the bill. Hence, conservation doesn't 

 necessarily mean that through its practice 

 everything is to be cheaper, but it does mean 

 that all the necessaries of life, with its com- 

 forts and blessings, shall continue, and that 

 there never shall be famine, human suffering, 

 or want caused by useless waste and extrava- 

 gance. 



There will be no more lo-cent corn and no 

 more $io lumber. The farmer who feeds 50- 

 cent corn to his hogs and his steers will 

 necessarily get higher prices for his beef and 

 bacon. And the lumberman, now that the 

 day has passed when there was an enormous 

 surplus of timber, when it had to be burned 

 to make way for settlement and cultivation 

 of the land ; now that he has to conserve 

 and grow his forest, has got to add thereto 

 the cost of the forest growth, and the con- 

 sumer will pay the bill. Yet we are each 

 and all consumers of each other's products, 

 and thus it is all evened up by our paying 

 each other's bills. There is no economical 



