284 THE CHIEF SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



where the future timber supply is seriously threat- 

 ened. The commercial planting of forests to meet 

 this prospective demand has already begun, and it is 

 destined in the near future to reach much greater 

 proportions. Persons embarking in this business, 

 however, at the South, will be greatly handicapped 

 by lack of knowledge as to the cultural possibilities 

 and needs of the principal Southern timber trees. 

 Very little data is at hand as to the best methods of 

 propagation and management, or as to the rate of 

 growth and time required for maturity of the different 

 species. In the American tropics this lack of knowl- 

 edge is so great as to be almost absolute. Whether 

 or not such valuable timber trees as West Indian 

 cedar and mahogany can be profitably grown on 

 what would otherwise be waste land in those regions 

 where they are native, but where they are now so 

 rapidly vanishing, is a question of vast economic 

 importance, but it is one that will require years of 

 expensive experimentation to determine. Questions 

 of this kind, which require so many years before 

 practical results can be expected, are difficult of 

 solution by private enterprise, but they are preemi- 

 nently suitable subjects for research stations that re- 

 ceive government support. The time has now come 

 when extensive scientific experimentation in both 

 forest planting and forest management is urgently 

 needed at the hands of each of the American 

 governments. 



Domestic Animals 



No general agricultural treatise can be considered 

 complete without at least some reference to those 



