168 JOURNAL OF FORESTRY 



from fire, insects, and fungi is being investigated either directly or 

 through cooperation with other Federal agencies. Exhaustive studies 

 of the influence of forest upon streamflow are under way. Forest 

 products in the broad sense of the word are being investigated 

 from the tree to the final product or by-product, whether it be lumber 

 or pulp or alcohol or dyes or organic acids. The utiHzation of the 

 by-products of the forest, such as forage, is covered. Forest economics 

 are studied. 



Along dendrological lines the foundation for many other phases 

 of forest investigations is being laid through the description and 

 classification of our trees. In forestation our knowledge has advanced 

 from practically nothing to a point where we are now able to raise 

 and plant the stock of our principal western trees successfully. In a 

 broad way most of the forestation problems of the West have been 

 worked out sufficiently to make planting possible under the most 

 adverse conditions with reasonable assurance of success. Refinements 

 of method, reduction of costs, the solution of here and there a local 

 problem remain. As extremes, planting is now being done success- 

 fully on the treeless sandhills of Nebraska, and under the adverse 

 conditions of the Southwest, where nature unaided does not often 

 produce seedlings in quantity more frequently than once in 20 or 

 even 50 years, and only rare combinations of favorable conditions 

 result in extensive natural reproduction. We have underway a study 

 of the relation of forest cover to streamflow, as broad and fundamental 

 in its scope as any which has ever been undertaken in Europe with 

 more centuries of forestry than we have decades. The life history of 

 some 25 of our forest trees has been studied and the results made 

 available for, whatever application is possible under present economic 

 conditions. Such studies of individual trees and similar studies of 

 types have largely been preliminary in character, surveys which will 

 afiford results for immediate application but permit also a more exact 

 conception of the problems which should be studied more intensively. 

 The study of types, forest ecology if you will, is being more and more 

 recognized as a broader, better solution of our real problems than 

 tree studies, although the tree study is necessary as a first step. 

 Fundamental studies to determine the physical factors which are 

 responsible for type distribution and development have been initiated. 

 In forest management sample plots numbering from 300 to 400 have 

 been established in some cases for more than 15 years, where the 



