Forestry and the Paper Supply 



Bv B A H R I N ( ; T () N M O ( ) K I^] 



WE liavc all suffered and are 

 still suffering from the high 

 })riee of j)aper. Forestry, the 

 science of wood production, can remedy 

 tills evil by increasing the supply of raw 

 material used in making paper, for wood 

 is now almost the only paper material used 

 in this country. Forestry offers two ways 

 of increasing the supply of paper pulp ; 

 first, through increased forest produc- 

 tivity due to the application of forestry 

 to the management of timberlands ; sec- 

 ond, through research on the paj^er-mak- 

 ing possibilities of woods hitherto not 

 used for paper. Although the discovery 

 of new woods will yield quicker measures 

 of relief for overcoming the present 

 shortage, forest production must in the 

 long run be our main reliance. Produc- 

 tive forests require not only the skill of 

 the forester, but also popular under- 

 standing and support of his point of 

 view and aims. Everyone knows that 

 the forester must "make two trees grow 

 where one grew before," — but how? 



There is only one sure way : by bring- 

 ing his methods into complete harmony 

 with the forces of nature, which, in the 

 last analysis, must grow the tree. The 

 first step is, then, to gain an understand- 

 ing of the natural forces which control 

 the forest. This is by no means a simple 

 matter, for not only are the controlling 

 factors themselves difficult to measure, 

 but also there is the exasperating yet 

 fascinating problem of the response of 

 the living tree to each of these factors 

 separately and to all acting together. 



Knowledge of all the forces on which 

 the forest depends will be acquired only 

 by the most earnest and painstaking re- 

 search. The influence of varying de- 

 grees of moisture, of heat and of light. 



and of different kinds of soil, upon the 

 growth and reproduction of each kind 

 of tree must be studied. In these studies 

 the accuniuhited knowledge of meteorol- 

 ogists, physicists, chemists, plant phys- 

 iologists, agronomists, and others, is 

 brought into full play. Research often 

 appears to the general public to be but 

 remotel}^ connected with the immediate 

 object, growing trees, (^uick results are 

 demanded, and research is confused 

 with invention. Let us not forget that 

 research precedes invention. Thus we 

 owe aeroplanes to Langley, who studied 

 the lifting powers of moving planes : 

 wireless telegraphy to Maxwell and 

 Hertz; and our freedom from many 

 forms of disease to Pasteur. If forestry 

 is to have a secure foundation the public 

 must accept the fact that the fundamen- 

 tal researches are the things that count. 

 They must not be swept along by the all 

 too prevalent desire for something "prac- 

 tical,"' but must know that the most 

 fundamental is the most practical in the 

 long run. 



In forestry the foundation is pitifully 

 weak. Not only do we lack the data 

 needed for devising the best methods of 

 cutting the forest, but we lack even the 

 knowledge on which to base experiments 

 designed to secure these data. Why? 

 Because forestry has been subjected, 

 even more than most professions, to 

 public pressure for these supposedly 

 "practical''"results. Foresters have been 

 compelled to spend all their time and 

 energy in showing the wood-using in- 

 dustries and the general public the need 

 for forestry, and in devising and apply- 

 ing methods for handling such timber- 

 lands as fell under their care. 



Circumstances have, perhaps, made 



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