506 Forestry Quarterly 



The assurance, however, that forestry, either state or private, 

 will be practised whenever and wherever economic conditions 

 permit is, I believe, wholly at variance with the facts of expe- 

 rience, and it is very important for foresters to realize that his- 

 tory proves that it requires more than simply lessening or dis- 

 appearing wood resources to compel the practice of technical 

 forestry. We have a very excellent example of the truth of 

 this in the forest conditions existing in the British Isles, where 

 there are very large areas admirably adapted to forest production 

 and capable of yielding much higher returns from forests than 

 from the uses to which they are now being put, which, neverthe- 

 less, are not being used for forest crops in spite of the clear eco- 

 nomic gain that would result from such use. It must be clearly 

 apparent that if, under such a combination of favorable eco- 

 nomic conditions as exists in England, and more especially in 

 Scotland and Ireland, the practice of technical forestry on an 

 intensive basis has not become established, there must be other 

 forces at work that have a strong influence in determining whether 

 forestry will or will not be practised even where economically 

 profitable. Many other almost equally striking examples suggest 

 themselves. For instance, we find Australia and New Zealand 

 scarcely recognizing the existence of the science of forestry, 

 although importing at great cost a very large part of their wood 

 supplies, while India, with a surplus of wood, has a well-devel- 

 oped forest policy and practice. We find similar contrasts in 

 the United States as between the progressive policy of Minne- 

 sota and the standpattism of Michigan. In fact, we need not go 

 outside our own country, for no greater contrast exists anywhere 

 than that between the vigorous and far-sighted policy inaugu- 

 rated in British Columbia, where there is probably more available 

 forest per capita than anywhere else, and the deplorable condi- 

 tion existing in Ontario under the most favorable natural and 

 economic conditions in Canada. 



Retarding Forces to he Reckoned With 



The truth of the matter is that economic conditions alone 

 probably never in any place gave rise to the practice of forestry, 

 but that there are equally strong social and political forces that 

 must be reckoned with. It follows, therefore, that foresters, 

 who are the best informed members of the community on these 



