878 jOL'RNAI, ()!• POKI'.Sl'RN' 



Management studies 24,028 



Volume, growth, and yield studies 7i650 



Tree studies 14,050 



Study of forest influences 3,000 



Protection studies 2,900 



Woodlot studies, farm woodlot survey, library, computation, private 



forestry, and State co-operation 30,530 



Total $1 18,618 



In looking over this list the only real forestry problems are the den- 

 drological stndies, the forestation experiments, the management studies, 

 the growth and yield studies, the tree studies, and the experiments on 

 forest influences. The total expenditure for all of these combined was 

 $85,188, or a little over 25 per cent of the total expenditure of $327,678, 

 while investigations in forest products received about 55 per cent of 

 the total appropriation. 



The beginning point in real forestry investigations is undoubtedly to 

 learn the requirements of the species of trees with which we are deal- 

 ing — in other words, find out how to use the tools with which we must 

 do our forest building. Dendrological studies are therefore funda- 

 mental. We need to compile the existing information and secure new 

 data upon the distribution, character, occurrence, and habits of our 

 important forest trees. Forestation experiments give us data for re- 

 foresting our waste lands, and tree studies furnish data on the life 

 histories and requirements of our trees. Yet all these studies received 

 a financial support amounting to only $50,510, or about 15 per cent of 

 the total appropriation for all investigations. While dendrological 

 studies received $8,000, the single item of timber tests carried on in the 

 Forest Products Laboratory received three times this much. The ap- 

 propriation of $28,000 for forestation experiments would seem liberal, 

 but on the forest-products side we find the items of timber physics and 

 timber tests receiving a total appropriation of almost $47,000. 



Of all silvicultural problems, management studies, to my mind, are 

 the most important. These deal primarily with the best methods of 

 cutting timber to secure reproduction and still leave the stand in the best 

 silvicultural condition. As we cut our virgin stands for the first time, 

 we are in an excellent position to learn the fallacies of our present sys- 

 tems of silvicultural management and thus to be able to gauge our fu- 

 ture operations accordingly. These data are secured by means of studies 

 on sample plots over a long period of years. Yet such investigations as 

 these receive less financial support than such products studies as those 

 dealing with wood distillation and the manufacture of pulp and paper. 

 Next to management studies in importance I should rank studies deal- 



