344 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



A NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION RESICRVE 



THIS brings up another possibility which deserves 

 careful consideration, namely, the use of the 

 organizations cliarged with large conservation 

 undertakings such as forestry and use and control of 

 water, in the actual defense of the country in the time 

 of need. It has been suggested that the system for 

 national defense in the United States should embrace a 

 national construction reserve organization primarily to 

 fight nature's forces. Such a reserve enlisted in the 

 name of constructive human advancement will provide 

 the best school for the development of true patriotism 

 and knit this nation more closely together in one common 

 purpose. Whatever merit such plan may have, efficient 

 national and state forest organization may be counted 

 upon to furnish splendid material for such national re- 

 serves. They could be used as an adjunct to the military 

 forces in mountainous and forest regions. Their intimate 

 knowledge of the country and its scanty population, their 

 ability to construct trails, bridges, telephone lines and 

 signals and act as scouts and patrols will make them 

 invaluable in local operations. 



"In addition there is now a large body of technically 

 trained foresters in this country who, because of their 

 intimate knowledge of forest utilization, can contribute in 

 a large measure to the most advantageous use of the 

 forest resources now available, discover new uses, and 

 find new fields for wood where possibly some other more 

 valuable material has been used before. The services 

 of such a profession, which is comparatively new and is 

 inspired with the desire to serve the country, are bound 

 to bring about more efficient use of our forest resources 

 and add strength to the nation. 



"It is not enough for as large a continent as the United 

 States to have a great portion of its land under timber. 

 It is also essential that this forest area should be as 

 equally distributed as the soil and climatic conditions 

 permit. In the older countries of Europe with a dense 

 population it has been found that it is inadvisable in any 

 locality to reduce the area under forest to less than a 

 quarter of the total land area. In this country there are 

 probably states where it will be advisable to maintain the 

 greatest part of the land under forest cover as the most 

 suitable and profitable crop. There are other states, like 

 our prairie states, where, because of the liigh agricul- 

 tural value of the soil and climatic conditions, the area 

 under forest need not be very large. In most states 

 which originally were largely timbered and which because 

 of the large area of nonagricultural land there should be 

 maintained a fairly large area permanently under grow- 

 ing timber crops. Wherever there is a question of the 

 use of land for the production of agricultural crops or 

 production of timber crops, the land if it is suitable at 

 all for farming should be devoted to the production of 

 agricultural crojjs ; but land which is not suitable for 

 agriculture should always be maintained under timber 

 crops. Such balance between agricultural and forest land 



will ])rove most advantageous to both agriculture and 

 forestry. 



"In a word, what is needed, as far as forest resources 

 are concerned, in this country to make it truly efficient 

 and strong is to place the utilizatioii of these resources 

 upon a permanent basis. Wherever forests exist on non- 

 agricultural land they should be handled so as to be 

 both a source of permanent employment and ever-increas- 

 ing national wealth. And if national efficiency and 

 strength mean anything more than a decorative phrase 

 all those having the best interest of the nation at heart 

 will work to bring about the permanency of the forest 

 industry in the United States." 



The committee said in conclusion : 



"Recognizing what can be done and what has already 

 been accomplished in the conservation of American for- 

 ests, we as a committee of this Congress stand firmly 

 behind the great constructive work of the National Forest 

 Service and the Forestry Departments of the several 

 states. We believe that the progress of forestry is inti- 

 mately dependent upon forestry research and public 

 education. We, therefore, approve of the great work 

 of the Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wiscon- 

 sin, and of the forest experiment stations maintained by 

 the nation and by the States and educational institutions. 

 We believe that the well-organized work in forest educa- 

 tion in this country assures permanent progress in Ameri- 

 can forestry. We commend the new spirit of cooperation 

 on the part of the lumbermen in the solution of the 

 problem of efficient forest utilization and conservation." 



PRE REVOLUTIONARY FORESTRY 



AVERY interesting booklet has been issued by 

 Cornell University on pre-revolutionary forestry 

 in America. Contrary to the general impression 

 that .\merican forestry is of very recent growth, it is 

 pointed out that such first principles as the prevention 

 of forest fires developed with the first American settle- 

 ments. Only six years after the Pilgrims landed at 

 Plymouth Rock, the colony passed a law aimed to pre- 

 vent the exhaustion of the local timber supply, and soon 

 after a forest fire law was enacted, prohibiting the set- 

 ling of forest fires or even the burning of private lands 

 except during certain seasons. Similar laws were en- 

 acted by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the New Haven 

 Settlements, the Providence Plantations, Pennsylvania, 

 and others at about the same or even earlier dates. 



Some of the penalties prescribed were very curious. 

 The law of North Carolina compelled the oft'ender to 

 pay a fine of 2.5 pounds, or, lacking this, "to receive on 

 his bare back thirty-nine lashes, well laid on." Burn- 

 ing of the woods, the law declared, is "destructive to 

 cattle and hogs, extremely prejudicial to soil, and often- 

 times of fatal consequences to planters and farmers, by 

 destroying their fences and improvements." 



