EDITORIAL 



603 



With the enormous consumption of our 

 forest trees now going on and rapidly in- 

 creasing, and the consequent diminution of 

 our forest areas, the need of tree planting 

 and tree cultivation becomes greater with 

 every passing year, and the importance of 

 Arbor Day constantly increases. 



In view of these facts, let the teachers of 

 the public schools impress upon their pupils 

 the value of tree planting and arboriculture, 

 and instil into the minds of these men and 

 women of the future the knowledge that in 

 the final analysis the best citizen is that man 

 who does most toward the betterment and the 

 brightening of the lives of those about him. 

 Not every one may be able to plant a tree; 

 and yet there will be some civic duty that 

 each may perform which will add its quota 

 to the sum total and give the doer the satis- 

 faction that comes to him who does his duty 

 to himself, to his neighbor, and to his state. 



J^ «? fe' 

 The Appalachian Exposition 



THE Appalachian Exposition was 

 opened in Chilhowee Park, Knox- 

 ville, September 12. Its declared pur- 

 poses are to emphasize the vital import- 

 ance of conserving the forests and 

 streams of the Appalachian region and 

 to exploit the resources and potentiali- 

 ties of this wonderful country. 



Eight states of the middle South are 

 represented, and in carrying out the 

 purposes described the exposition aims 

 not only to show the advancement 

 which the South has already made in 

 agriculture, mining, manufacture, and 

 the arts, but also, and especially, to 

 bring out as forcibly as possible by 

 plain object lessons the natural re- 

 sources of the Appalachian region, their 

 dangers, and the means of preserving 

 them. It calls attention to the com- 

 mercial opportunities which await de- 

 velopment, and at the same time points 

 to the need of guiding the economic 

 and industrial growth of the region 

 along sound and enduring lines. 



Located on the highest point within 

 the grounds is the beautiful forestry 

 building, which contains an extensive 

 exhibit, prepared with the co-operation 

 of the United States Forest Service. 

 There is a large relief map of the south- 

 ern Appalachians, a model with sprink- 

 ler showing erosion and the protection 

 of timber cover; exhibits of educational 



value to the farmers with reference to 

 terracing; illustrations of destructive 

 and conservative lumbering; specimens 

 of lumber ; exhibits of the naval stores 

 and lumber industry throughout the 

 South ; maps and transparencies. 



It is stimulating to imagine what 

 might have been the course of recent 

 progress in the Northeast and in the 

 Lake States if, at the beginning of 

 modern exploitation, it could have been 

 possible to take stock of their resources 

 and work out systematic plans for util- 

 izing them. For one thing, the forest 

 devastation which has characterized 

 lumbering in those regions, and has 

 given to the South supremacy in the 

 production of forest products, would 

 not then have taken place, and an asset 

 of immeasurable value would have been 

 permanently retained as an investment. 

 Such an exposition as that at Knoxville 

 encourages the hope that the South is 

 awake to the warning furnished by the 

 wasteful misuse of land on the part of 

 her northern neighbors, and that she 

 intends to secure an orderly' and sus- 

 tained development of her resources 

 which will guarantee her future econo- 

 mic wealth and efficiency. 



i^ «r' Jfe' 



An Important Legal Decision 



BY A decision of a United States 

 court, in a case in which the United 

 States claimed damages for timber de- 

 stroyed by fires originating from sparks 

 along the Missouri River and North- 

 western Railroad, an exceedingly val- 

 uable precedent has recently been es- 

 tablished, in the allowing of $12 an acre 

 for damage done to ninety-one and two- 

 tenths acres of reproduction. This is 

 the first time that a court in this country 

 has decided that trees of such imma- 

 ture growth as those involved in this 

 case have a value which may be de- 

 termined and for the destruction of 

 which damages may be estimated and 

 allowed. The basis of the valuation 

 of the reproduction was the figures de- 

 rived from the actual planting opera- 

 tions carried on by the Forest Service in 



