150 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



the forest statistics relating to our own country, oven as supplemented 

 by the excellent work of the Tenth Census in Volume IX, cannot be 

 said to represent more than approximations, owing to the insufficiency 

 of funds annually allowed for the difficult and elaborate task of such 

 statistical collection; yet the information embodied in the four vol- 

 umes of forestry reports issued from this Department, in addition 

 to the annual reports and other similar forestry publications, official 

 and unofficial, must be considered sufficiently extensive to fairly show 

 the deplorable condition of our forestry, the importance and need of 

 a systematic forest policy, its bearings upon national economy, and 

 its requirements at the hands of legislators as well as of wood con- 

 sumers. 



That a more general and practical application of this preliminary 

 knowledge cannot yet be recorded, may be due to the difficulty of 

 extracting from the mass of matter accumulated in these reports tho 

 important facts upon the consideration of which action must proceed. 

 It may be desirable, therefore, at the end of the first decade of for- 

 estry investigations, to summarize briefly the results, and to present 

 a concise picture of our present forest and forestry conditions. 



SIGNIFICANCE OF FORESTS. 



It is a generally recognized fact that forests have always been im- 

 portant factors in the national life, the civilization and the progressive 

 development of the human race. 



Their influence is of duplex character — direct and indirect. 



As sources of a raw material which enters into almost every branch 

 of human industry and manufacture, substitutes for which are not 

 easily found, their direct importance and the need of their perpetu- 

 ation is obvious. In this respect the forests of the whole world might 

 be considered tributary to our markets ; but not only would the im- 

 portation of a bulky material from distant parts be exceedingly ex- 

 pensive and almost impracticable for the enormous quantities re- 

 quired by us, but other nations are awake to the danger of diminished 

 forest products and are restricting their wood exports. 



The question of a home supply of raw material is nowhere more 

 important than in the matter of forest products. 



While for more than a century alarmists have prophesied a dearth 

 of timber, and by their clamor have induced more careful husbanding 

 of forest resources in Europe, apparently their prophecies have not 

 been fulfilled. But there can be no doubt that the conditions favor- 

 able for a fulfillment of such predicted danger are growing with the 

 increase of the world's population and with the greater requirements 

 of an advancing civilization. While in many cases wood is success- 

 fully supplanted by other materials, yet the substitutes do not seem 

 to come in proportion to the increased demand and decreased supply. 

 There can be no doubt that wood is a convenience which ought to be 

 preserved in sufficient quantity for the use of the human race. 



Th e tendency of nature to clothe waste places with wood growth 

 has been claim.ed as sufficient to restore the ravages made upon the 

 timber resources by man. At one time no doubt the unaided produc- 

 tions of nature were sufficient to provide man with food without much 

 trouble, making the use of plows and fertilizers unnecessary. But 

 the present era, it seems, cannot find methods intensive enough to feed 

 its multitudes. Nobody would deny the need of agriculture. In the 

 game manner, with the increasing need of agricultural lands, the 



