750 JOURNAI. OF FORESTRY 



misnamed forestry. The idea of that study seems to be about this: 

 get some reproduction if possible, but under no circumstances disturb 

 the slash-bang, engine of destruction, cheap-logging, vast-area-devas- 

 tation methods of the logger. The speed of the overhead skidder, it 

 would seem, should not be hindered by forestry. 



Foresters are afraid of forestry. Listen to what they say ! "Of 

 course, sustained annual yield can only be considered for the very dis- 

 tant future." "Wait until lumber prices get higher, then we can do 

 something." A third says, 'Tf such a plan were proposed to the legis- 

 latures, it would make us all appear ridiculous," despite the fact that 

 the plan proposed simply asks for the practice of forestry in the for- 

 ests. These quotations are straws flying with the winds of foresters' 

 opinions. 



Such remarks from teachers of forestry, and especially from those 

 foresters who are in the field and ought to know better, do not help the 

 cause of forestry. We gain nothing by appearing wise and practical 

 and stating solemnly that forestry cannot compete with good T per 

 cent bonds, and therefore no use to try to force forestry on the private 

 timber owners. To state it thus is to beg the question. It is not for 

 us, as foresters, to guarantee that forestry will pay ; we need only to 

 guarantee that without forestry the nation will suffer seriously. Our 

 task is to raise timber. 



We, as foresters, should know, and should preach, that the very best 

 forestry that can be practiced is none too good. We should tell people 

 that we never, probably, will have too much land in timber. We 

 should realize, thoroughly, that under the conditions of forest destruc- 

 tion at hand over the country, we cannot hope to obtain adequate sup- 

 plies of timber for the future by any two-penny ha-penny methods. 



After all, aren't we running before a bugaboo of nothing? Aren't 

 our forestry fears psychological rather than real? The nation does 

 not consider stopping raising wheat because many fields are seriously 

 smutted. Corn is not abandoned as a crop because of the corn borer, 

 nor yet because it brings this year only -io cents. We do not discon- 

 tinue the growing of cotton because of the attacks of boll weevils. 

 We need timber as badly as we need cotton ; and a tip weevil which is 

 abundant, or a blister rust which is everywhere, should not cause us to 

 abandon forestry — it should simply spur us on to greater efforts. 



Let us hitch our wagon to the star of our ideals. They are very real, 

 and their practice is exceedingly necessary in our national prosperity. 

 Let us get out of the state of mind in which we beg the lumberman to 



