343 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



this unavoidable. In this countr}^ for- 

 estry is different from what it is in Eu- 

 rope. The demands are different. In 

 Europe every part of the tree, even to 

 the twigs, can be sold at a profit. In the 

 United States only the large logs from 

 the more valuable kinds of trees can ])e 

 profitably utilized. A large percentage 

 of the felled tree is left to rot in the 

 forest, and an enormous quantity of 

 wood is wasted at the sawmills be- 

 cause it cannot be marketed except at 

 a loss. The waste of our sawmills rep- 

 resents not only a dead loss, but ac- 

 tually costs tlie lumbermen of this 

 country ${),000,000 a year to destroy. i 



Thus economic conditions have hith- 

 erto permitted the practice of forestry 

 in this country only in the more thickly 

 settled regions possessing good markets 

 for forest products, and on lands owned 

 by the Federal Government, by states, 

 by large institutions, and b}^ corpora- 

 tions which can afford to wait for their 

 returns. American forestry has there- 

 fore required building from the ground 

 up, so to speak. It has required inge- 

 nuity and business acumen rather than 

 science. But the opportunities for re- 

 search are increasing, especially on the 

 vast areas of government-owned forests, 

 and it behooves both foresters and the 

 general public to see to it that a solid 

 foundation of scientific knowledge is 

 at hand in advance of the demand 

 for a practical application of this 

 knowledge. 



Our pulp lands are now growing less 

 than half, probably not more than a 

 quarter, of the raw material they are 



^ Forestry does not appeal to lumbermen because 

 it involves sacrificing part of their present returns 

 for the sake of the future. The holding of forest 

 lands costs money in taxes and fire protection, the 

 taxation alone being a sufficient discouragement in 

 many states, even though there were not the ever 

 present risk of destruction by fire. Obviously it 

 pays better to "cash in" and invest the money in 

 stocks and bonds, which yield just as much as a 

 permanent forest and are far less trouble and risk. 



capable of yielding under intensive for- 

 estry management. The results of any 

 measures taken to increase forest pro- 

 duction cannot, however, be felt for a 

 number of years, for it takes a long while 

 to grow a tree. 



The Forest Products Laboratory at 

 Madison, Wisconsin, established in 

 1910 under the United States Forest 

 Service, has been working on the prin- 

 ciples involved in the manufacture of 

 paper pulp, and on the possibilities of 

 various woods. It has a staff of experts 

 and equipment for carrying through 

 any process from beginning to end on a 

 semicommercial scale. In addition, 

 tests of ground pulp have been carried 

 out on a commercial scale at another 

 laboratory. It has been found that fif- 

 teen woods in addition to red spruce are 

 suitable for the manufacture of a grade 

 of ground wood that can be used for 

 news print. Tests in running the paper 

 from these woods through commercial 

 presses have been entirely satisfactory. 

 The significance of this will be realized 

 when we consider that the bulk of the 

 news print now comes from red spruce, 

 a tree less abundant than several of the 

 suitable trees, and insignificant in quan- 

 tity when compared with the total vol- 

 ume of all the available woods. For the 

 sulphite process eleven woods have been 

 successfully made into pulp on a semi- 

 commercial scale ; and fifteen new woods 

 have been found suitable for the soda 

 process. The Forest Service has found 

 that practically all coniferous woods can 

 be manufactured into kraft pulp. 



Forestry can, with public support, 

 remedy the shortage of paper. It can do 

 the same for all other forest products. 

 Last, but not least, all this can be done 

 without diminishing in any way the 

 value of the forest as a protector of 

 stream flow, and as a source of health 

 and pleasure for humanity. 



