984 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



this step. Each State should acquire and place under the 

 management of its Forestry Department large areas of 

 forest land, upon which to demonstrate the principles of 

 applied forestry. Cut-over pine lands can be acquired at 

 low cost, and, under the favorable conditions existing in 

 the South, it should be possible to clearly and convinc- 

 ingly demonstrate the practicability of handling them for 

 profitable timber production. This program will give 

 to the State a definite problem to solve and a definite 

 forest policy to follow. It would give the Forestry 

 Department a stability and a permanency that does not 

 now exist, and would enable the State to demonstrate the 

 best methods of handling forest lands for timber pro- 

 duction. Forest fires, which are today preventing forest 



growth, must be brought under control. It has been dem- 

 on.strated that fire in specific cases is an aid to reproduc- 

 tion, but it must be absolutely under control and used at 

 the right time by those who know how to use it to aid the 

 forest, and not left to the cattle raisers to scatter pro- 

 miscuously for the destruction of the forest. The solution 

 of the fire problem is, in a large measure, the key to the 

 whole situation, and is one that must be worked out 

 through 'much trial and tribulation. It is on large areas 

 of State-owned land, where fire protection can be prac- 

 ticed without interference on a large scale, that the fire 

 problem can best be worked out in a convincing way. 

 Until that is done and public sentiment reconstructed 

 timber growing as a business will not make progress. 



WASHINGTON'S FIRST MEMORIAL TREE 



'T'HE first memorial tree planted in the Nation's 

 ■*■ Capital was in honor of the men from the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, who gave their lives 

 for their country. It was a white oak set out on the 

 spacious department grounds, with Secretary Houston 

 and Air. Henry S. Graves, Chief Forester, both of whom 



"gave up their lives in the great war. We will not forget 

 the part they played in that struggle, nor their sacri- 

 fice. We shall pay tribute to their memory in divers 

 ways. 



"Today we are planting a tree for them. Nature will 

 build from it a living monument. Every year it will 



Ptiolotiraph by Hams and Lwuig 



PLANTING WASHINGTON'S FIRST MEMORIAL TREE 



are vice-presidents of the .\merican Forestry Associa- 

 tion, as chief participants in the simple ceremony. The 

 various bureau chiefs and other officials of the depart- 

 hient were present at the planting. 



"Many members of our department," said Mr. Graves, 



strike its roots deeper, raise its crown higher and spread 

 its branches wider. It will grow in stature and strength, 

 like our own appreciation of the devotion of the boys 

 who gave all that their country and the world might be 

 a better and happier place to live in." 



