BOOKS ON FORESTRY 



THE movement to study and pre- 

 serve our forest trees instigated 

 within the past few years has 

 stirred up more than usual interest, not 

 only among those whose business inter- 

 ests are concerned, but among the 

 American people at large. Forestry 

 to-day is the most important considera- 

 tion in the general plan of conserving 

 our national resources. To care for 

 the vast timber tracts and to reforest 

 the thousands of acres bared by former 

 mis:i .nagement is the proposed work 

 that will bring greater results than any 

 other national effort ever made in our 

 country. And an issue of this sort 

 gives rise to the usual literary danger — 

 a multiplicity of books offering little 

 practical return for the price paid for 

 them. 



When a book on trees is advertised it 

 usually finds a ready market. And as 

 such publications entail illustrating nec- 

 essarily expensive, the cost per volume 

 is much above that of the average book. 

 And many of these books are very dis- 

 appointing. One recently published, 

 with a very seductive title, generalizes 

 to such a liberal extent that Ginkgo 

 and Southern Yellow Pine are intro- 

 duced as representative conifers. In 

 a way, this is true ; but put in this man- 

 ner, the truth is misleading. The 

 Ginkgo is a geological curiosity and has 

 a romantic story ; but the long-leaf 

 pine of the South means millions of 

 dollars annually. This little book men- 

 tions eight species of pine (two of these 

 being exotic) and there are thirty-nine 

 664 



species of commercial value in the 

 United States. And I did not see a 

 single species of the many Western 

 oaks described in its pages. Clearly a 

 book of this kind means little to the 

 real forest student. What he requires 

 is a book covering these topics : 



1. A list of our forest trees. 



2. Botanical descriptions. 



3. The definite locaUty of trees listed. 



4. A statement of their value. 



And with the last consideration 

 comes the outlook that concerns us as 

 a nation : Investigating sylvical con- 

 ditions. Are our forests sufficiently 

 studied, cared for, and preserved? Can 

 waste tracts be reforested? The very 

 nature of underbrush and shrubs, and 

 even weeds and grasses, often help and 

 suggest, or seriously hinder reforesta- 

 tion. The writer on subjects pertain- 

 ing to forestry must be a broadly edu- 

 cated teacher. He must know that ele- 

 mentary training in any field should be 

 sharply accurate, and very much to the 

 point if successful instruction is sought. 

 And it must be persistently borne in 

 mind that long before the tree becomes 

 timber it is a plant. The tree is cause: 

 the nicety of the lumberman's calcula- 

 tion, the rise and fall of prices, the 

 Nation's tremendous utilization of for- 

 est produce, is result. 



It might therefore be suggested to all 

 who would promote the study of for- 

 estry (and the study should be pro- 

 moted even in our primary schools), to 

 write, to recommend, and to buy books 

 on the subject with care. 



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