110 FORESTRY ALMANAC 



MR. DANA. Yes, Mr. Snell. I appreciate that, particularly as I 

 am in charge of the station you were instrumental in getting started 

 last year. That $135,000 that is now appropriated by the Federal 

 Government is used chiefly for the support of nine regional forest- 

 experiment stations, similar in character and scope and object to the 

 agricultural experiment stations of the country, the difference being 

 simply that they handle forests rather than corn crops. The general 

 methods used and the ultimate object aimed at are practically the 

 same in both cases. Several of these, however, are stations in little 

 more than name, and none of them spends as much as $25,000 a year. 



The need for the prompt adoption of a more adequate program 

 of forest research is emphasized not only by the seriousness of the 

 present timber situation but by the long time nature of the forest crop. 

 Results can not be secured overnight with a crop that requires 30 to 

 100 years to reach maturity. It is therefore necessary to undertake 

 without delay the study both of those problems that are already acute 

 and of those that will soon become so. The results, even under the 

 most favorable conditions, will not be available before there is an 

 urgent need for them. 



Scientific research is now recognized as the only sound basis for 

 progress in industry and agriculture. It is no less essential in forestry. 

 Crude methods of forest management are better than none, but they 

 will never enable us to grow enough wood to balance our present 

 consumption. And the intensive methods will be developed to the 

 extent, and only to the extent, to which forest research on an adequate 

 scale is made an integral part of our national forest program. 



