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PRECAUTION SHOULD BE EXERCISED. 



It is imperative, therefore, that the greatest of care be exer 

 cised in the work of plant introduction for the replenishment of 

 the native forest. A few successful and proper introductions 

 will be much more valuable than a heterogeneous accumulation 

 of plant pests. The Division of Forestry has been working along 

 this line and has done what it could with its limited facilities, 

 but is yet not prepared to announce with confidence many tree 

 introductions which are absolutely reliable for this purpose. 



OTHER PHASES OF FORESTRY. 



Other phases of forestry in Hawaii could be mentioned, if 

 time permitted. Among these is the treatment of the algaroba 

 forest which is susceptible of true forest management on a regu- 

 lar rotation. The work of thinning the algaroba to increase the 

 yield of pods and bee pasturage is true forestry and much more 

 along these lines could readily be accomplished. The work 

 of planting trees for the production of fuel wood and timber 

 which is now carried on at the rate of about 1,000,000 trees an- 

 nually, largely by private interests, is true forestry which pro- 

 duces comparatively early returns. 



PRESENT STATUS OF FORESTRY IN HAWAII. 



The history of government forest work in Hawaii is familiar 

 to most of you. Except for some introduction and tree planting 

 work which was performed by the government previous to 1903, 

 and the protection of certain forest areas by private owners, the 

 real forestry movement began with the creation of the Division 

 of Forestry under the Board of Agriculture and Forestry. The 

 principal work of this Division in the past has been the demarca- 

 tion and setting apart of forest reserves and the raising and dis- 

 tribution of trees for planting. The first has almost been com- 

 pleted so that now there are 39 reserves having a total area of 

 about 772,000 acres of which 68% or over half a million acres 

 is government land. 



THE FOREST RESERVES. 



According to the forest axiom that all land should be put to 

 its highest use, the boundaries of these reserves have been drawn 

 so as not to interfere with revenue-producing land or areas which 

 may be developed for agriculture except where stream protec- 

 tion and forest influence are unquestionably more important. In 

 other words, the present forest reserve land is confined as closely 

 as possible to areas which are not suitable for any greater econo- 

 mic use. It would have been better had the reserves originally 

 included more land so as to secure the protective benefit of wood- 

 land belts above and below them. To make appreciable reduc- 



