• ■ 1 II 



Forestry and the Cropping System 



■ua 



Almost vvprykody in the United Stntfii knuwH tlinl our forotit 

 area ia narrowing at an alarming rate. AlmoRt nothing fundn- 

 nientai in ttio wnv of formt conitcrvnlion linii no far been nttenipled. 



It i» • ' ' V iii'rviiM' liiiH 



of late ' III); iiii|iortiuit 



wor- Lj-u'lu'iiMV.' > iiro iiri'vpntioii iinrl 



in 1.' . .'lUii yet tin- i mm tliiit doHtnirtioii 



of our lorei«l8 rontinuen in tlio iianic orltioilux iiiniinor thiit ob- 

 tained in the enrly stages of the lumber imiUHtry. 



It is not ni'ooHiinrr to consider thiit i|ue!>tion with the idea in 

 mind that the present system will entirely exhnu.st our timber re- 

 soiirres, but if this syntoui, or lark of My^lein, with rertiiiiity does 

 teni ' 'bnormni and burdensoiiic prii'cs, it iii then n nintter of 



serii 1. Ai-tiiiil exhiiU!<tion of our furi'st.s prolmbly never cnn 



come. piLTtly because the forest area is extensive, but mainly be- 

 rause of the plain ei-onomic ren.xon that high prices of forest prod- 

 ucts will force into use many substitutets, and in many instances 

 these substitutes will be continued even though lumber should not 

 remain abnormally expensive, thus nutoinatically checking pro- 

 duction. 



Many of us ran remember when sidewalks were built of planks, 

 bridges were built of timbers, fences were made of boards, and 

 even railroad cars and ships were in large part of wood; and so 

 on, a thousand and one instances can be recalled where changes 

 have been made from wood to concrete and steel. We speak of 

 the materials that have lately come into more general use as sub- 

 stitutes for wood, but this is an inverted logic, for in reality the 

 wood that was formerly used in this construction work was a sub- 

 stitute for the more emluring materials which a busy frontier pop- 

 ulation found no time to use. 



COMfl.ETE FOHEST K.XIIAI'STIOK U.VLIKELY 



With this natural tendency toward a lesser use of wood in build- 

 ing and construction work so obvious, we may safely dismiss the 

 frequently expressed fear that our forests will in time actually 

 become exhausted. But while this optimisim is justified ns re- 

 gards the great bulk of our forests, which are of the coniferous 

 species, it does not hold as to those smaller areas that are in the 

 main of the deciduous species, from which our sujiply of cabinet 

 woods must come, for there can be no substitutes for this class 

 of wood. We can have various furnishings for the office or shop 

 made of nickle, brass or steel, but such metals would seem harsh 

 in furniture for the living room; a library table made of mahog- 

 any, walnut or quartered white oak is something we never tire of, 

 but no sensible or cultured person would tolerate a piece of fur- 

 niture made of pure gold, even if such luxury could be within 

 one's means. 



It is evident when we consider the tendency to change from- wood 

 to steel, concrete, and kindred materials, that the per capita con- 

 sumption of that class of lumber which enters into building and 

 construction work, will hereafter be very much less than formerly: 

 but with a growing population, and some of our needs in soft woods 

 not much subject to substitution, such as for instance the use of 

 wood for paper production, the aggregate consumption in this class 

 of timber will still be very large, so that the necessity for con- 

 serving the coniferous forests may be conceded. 



When we then consider the hardwood forests, and know to an 

 absolute certainty that no substitute for cabinet woods can ever 

 be had, and that such forests are comparatively limited in area, 

 we can then see the urgent necessity of calling a halt on the pres- 

 ent happy-go-lucky method of logging this class of timber, unless 

 we can fairly urge that it is not important to retain a portion of 

 our future supply of cabinet woods, but instead take the hazard 

 of depending on South America, Africa and other distant countries 

 for our needs. 



—20— 



- ' ' --'try l>n».ii nil tlir 



■ iM-nt, and tulur>, 



OUB t'AniNKT WOOIIH 



Wo have in this country Ave different kinds of hardwood* that 

 nro distinctly cabinet woods, viz.: walnut, white oak, red oak, 

 birch an<l red gum, with iniiny other hardwoods in much demand 

 for special uses; of the live KukIs nnnieil, walnut is now ho scarce 

 that it is hnntly thought nf n" a factor in native woods. 



Of all the fine hnrdwon.l liiri-sts found in this country nt the 

 beginning of imlustrinl devcbipmcnt, those of Indiana and Ohio 

 were probably lirst in point of both quality and quantity, very 

 littlo now remaining in cither state; but the cutting in this part 

 of the country has been fairly legitimate, as it has covered a 

 period of more than fifty yeiirs. There has not been an unduo 

 amount of waste, and this fine timber was on land unusually well 

 fitted for agriculture, so that it <'Ould not legitimately b« held as 

 forest reserve. 



In our still remaining area of hardwood forests, those of tho 

 Delta country in Arkansas and Mississippi oro the finest as re- 

 gards size of trees and yield per acre, but here also tho soil is 

 exceptionally productive, so that these Delta forests cannot bo 

 regardeil as being within the field of conservation efforts for any 

 great length of time, since the land can bo more profitably con- 

 verted into farms. 



But this country does have large tracts of hardwood timber in 

 localities where topography or other adverse conditions do not 

 admit of easy or profitable farming, such as the ten or eleven 

 mountainous counties of southeastern Kentucky, much the samo 

 area in eastern Tennessee, a large part of West Virginia, part of 

 the Carolinas and quite extensive tracts in northern Wisconsin 

 and up|icr Michigan, where the soil is gooil but in places very 

 rocky. Tracts of timber so located certainly do invite a trial of 

 scientific forestry practice, as it cannot be urged that such lands 

 are needed for any purpose of more importance; but as nearly all 

 of these lands are in private bands, the government's forestry 

 department cannot well enforce its notions without the adoption 

 of such harsh police regulations as may not be warranted, and it 

 remains to be seen what can be acconijdished through voluntary 

 co-operation between the owner and the government — or in ex- 

 tension of tho public domain liy ]>urcha8e from present owners. 

 Rational Fokestuy 



As to what really Js scientific and rational in forestry, it is first 

 necessary to consider the natural characteVistics of the forest, and 

 at the samo time analyze some of the popular misconceptions on 

 the subject. The average man will speak of forests and lumber 

 without having in mind the wide difference between the coniferous 

 and the deciduous species of trees, which are as wide apart in 

 character and uses as iron is different from copper, and only in 

 rare instances do the two kinds overlap into a common use; then 

 there is the notion that some two centuries ago our forests were 

 young, but are now matured and ready for the harvest, whereas 

 the fact is that all forests have both young and old trees, all the 

 way from this year's sprouts up to the matured trees that are on 

 the decline, and what virgin forests we now have left, were prac- 

 tically the same when Columbus landed in America as they are 

 today. Then last, but not least, there is the notion that while 

 reforestation is indeed desirable, this should be by the method 

 of planting seed or of transpl.nnting small saplings, and only on 

 soil that is totally unfit for agriculture. 



Nature a.s a Planter 



A little reflection ought to show the utter absurdity of such 

 a method, when we can see that nature has alreadj- planted more 

 than a sufficient number of young trees that have had a sturdy 

 growth of many years, all with soil and climate most naturally 

 suited to each kind, such natural trees coming into usable size 

 twenty to forty years ahead of planted trees; when we consider 



