INTRODUCTION 



A forest survey of Illinois was begun by the State Natural History 

 Survey in July, 1939, when Mr. R. B. Miller was engaged for a pre- 

 liminary general study of the Illinois situation and conditions and for 

 educational and publicity work intended to open the way to active, practi- 

 cal studies on a larger scale. In 1921 three additional foresters, with 

 Mr. C. J. Telford in charge, entered upon a systematic survey of Illi- 

 nois woodlands with a view to their location and area, their composition 

 and condition, their present management and utilization, and their pro- 

 ductivity as shown by the rates of growth of important kinds of trees 

 on various soils, in various situations, under various conditions, and in 

 all parts of the state. 



As these data were accumulated, it first became possible to make 

 an intelligent study of the values of our woodlands, of the economics 

 of forest management and production in Illinois, and of the relation of 

 the local supply of forest products, present and prospective, actual and 

 possible, to the demands of our Illinois industries — matters fundamental 

 to any adequate forestry policy, either for the state or for the owner of 

 forest proi>erty or of lands especially adapted to forest culture. 



This difficult, intricate, and supremely important part of the survey 

 program was taken up by Herman H. Chapman, Professor of Forest 

 Management in the Yale University School of Forestry, and the present 

 report, filed by him for publication in June, 1924, is the product of his 

 work during the summers of 1922 and 1923, supplemented by much 

 additional inquiry carried on under his direction by foresters Miller 

 and Telford, the former especially having been employed during the 

 greater part of two years in the accumulation and tabulation of addi- 

 tional data. All these materials were passed, however, under the scru- 

 tiny of Professor Chapman, who is the final authority for the statements, 

 inferences, and recommendations of the report. 



Special mention should be made of the cordial co-operation, in all 

 stages of the survey, of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the 

 University of Illinois, which has given us free access to its accumulated 

 data and much valuable information of a more personal character con- 

 tributed by the members of the Station staff. 



Stici'uex a. Fokbks. 



