FOREST SERVICE, 335 



Appalachian region contributed valuable information which has 

 resulted in more effective fire protection and promises to lead to 

 further valuable findings. A thorough study by the Appalachian 

 station of the forest plantations on the Biltmore estate in North 

 Carolina, the oldest and most extensive plantations in the region, 

 has furnished an important contribution to the knowledge of species 

 and methods of reforestation in that region. A comprehensive 

 study of the growth of the southern pines by the Southern Forest 

 Experiment Station, in cooperation with the National Research 

 Council and several State forestry departments, is now nearing 

 completion and will furnish much-needed information for the 

 timber owners throughout the South who are seriously considering 

 the continuous production of timber on their lands. The results 

 of several outstanding pieces of research were published during the 

 year. 



In furtherance of its program the Forest Service plans, whenever 

 the necessary funds can be made available, to enlarge the small-scale 

 work now under way in the Pacific Northwest and in California 

 by the establishment of stations on the standard set by the last 

 Congress for the Lake States and the Northeast. These two western 

 regions contain 50 per cent of the entire stand of saw timber left in 

 the United States, and cut 10,355 million feet of lumber annually, 

 or 31 per cent of the entire cut of the country. From 1915 to 1922, 

 the lumber production of these regions increased 56 per cent, while 

 the total cut in the rest of the country decreased over 30 per cent. 

 Their 60,000,000 acres of forest land is more than the entire forest 

 area of the Middle Atlantic and New England States from Mary- 

 land north. Under intensive forest management the three States 

 of Washington, Oregon, and California should produce together 

 an annual growth of 18,000,000,000 board feet, or over 25 per cent 

 of that possible in the entire United States. 



At the present time fire is the greatest single factor retarding the 

 successful practice of forestry on the Pacific coast. Thousands of 

 acres of mature timber are destroyed annually ; but, what is much more 

 harmful from the standpoint of our future timber supply, a much 

 larger area of cut-over and restocking lands is being burned. It is 

 essential that better methods of forest-fire control and suppression be 

 perfected. We need more adequate knowledge of the climatic condi- 

 tions which create dangerous fire hazards and the means of predict- 

 ing their occurrence. Already a start has been made upon such 

 studies, but much additional information is needed before remedial 

 measures can be definitely prescribed. 



Close to 3,000,000 acres in the three Pacific Coast States will 

 require reforestation to make them productive. They will produce 

 heavy stands of timber in 50 years' time. Better methods of forest 

 planting, including the technique of nursery practice for our many 

 species, sites, and forest types, must be developed. Again, agricul- 

 ture in much of the region is largely dependent upon an abundant 

 water supply for irrigation. In many sections the conservation of 

 water supply and the prevention of erosion through intensive forest 

 management and tree planting are necessary. 



No industry can maintain itself without fundamental research, and 

 this applies as much to lumbering as to agriculture or mining. In 

 the older countries of Europe forest research has been under way for 



