588 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



In this connection, we may also recall the suggestions made by Mr. 

 Graves in the present year's February issue, and the writer's own sug- 

 gestion in the February issue of last year, regarding co-operation of 

 States, Federal Government, and private owners. 



Why Do We Need More Forest Rese.'N.rch ? 



One of the biggest economic problems before the United States 

 is the production of wood to meet the future needs of our growing 

 population and industries. No one at all familiar with present con- 

 ditions can doubt that a very serious shortage of timber, with attend- 

 ant high prices, hardship for consumers, and hindrance to the economic 

 development of the country, will be upon us within a very few years 

 unless vigorous action is taken immediately to insure continuous forest 

 production on forest lands. 



A movement, which has already a large measure of popular support, 

 is under way to bring about this continuous production, not only from 

 the public forests, but also on the much greater area of privately owned 

 forest land. But it must be borne in mind that the unanimous support 

 of the public, of the law-making bodies, and of the forest owners them- 

 selves will not suffice to insure the production of the right material in 

 quantities sufficient to meet our future needs. Forest protection, con- 

 servative cutting, reforestation, restriction of cut to annual growth, will 

 result in continuous crops of some kind of timber, but if undertaken in 

 a haphazard way will not result in continuous crops large enough to 

 meet even our present needs ; nor is it at all certain that we shall have 

 either the sizes, grades, or even the species of lumber which will be 

 needed. 



When good land is cheap, production and transportation costs low 

 or nil, population sparse, there is little need for study of methods 

 to increase food production, or of selection of varieties to plant. The 

 Indian in the tropics, who has only to go out and gather food which 

 grew without any effort on his part, has no need to indulge in agri- 

 cultural research. But with a highly developed civilization, with its 

 ever-increasing population and resultant decrease in per capita area of 

 agricultural soil, with increasing costs of production, and with the 

 necessity of carrying the products of the soil long distances to the 

 consumer, it becomes imperative to investigate methods by which a 

 maximum amount of food can be produced, at the lowest practicable 

 cost, on soils best adapted for each particular kind of crop. It is also 

 necessary that the production of different kinds of foods bear some 

 relation to the requirements of the consumers for the various products. 



