8o FORESTS AND MANKIND 



Governments and states possess longer vision than individual 

 and the undertakings they support are not subject to all thi 

 hazards that attend private enterprise. So governments can af 

 ford to foster projects that will not come to harvest for twenty 

 fifty, or even a hundred years. Almost invariably it has beer 

 on Government lands that forestry is first practiced when na 

 tions take up this new science. In countries more advanced ir 

 forest practice, private citizens following Governmental pre 

 cedent are protecting their own timber lands, employing for 

 esters and providing for future crops. It is to these privat< 

 owners of forests that we must look for the practical succes: 

 of forestry. Governments may point the way, states and muni 

 cipalities may keep their own lands productive, but for the 

 great wood consuming nations of the world the bulk of fores 

 lands is in private ownership. Until forestry is practiced or 

 them, we can have no real solution to our problem of perpetua 

 wood supply. 



There is no lack of instances showing how lands once worth 

 less have been turned into thriving, productive properties. Ir 

 France, not so long ago stretched a region of over twelve mil 

 lion acres of marsh and shifting sands where only a few use 

 less shrubs were able to make a bare living. It had been com 

 pletely deforested. It was adding nothing to the wealth oJ 

 France it was worth nothing. Finally the Governmenl 

 planted trees throughout the region, put them in care of theii 

 foresters, and today, this once worthless, abandoned piece o] 

 land, is worth over a hundred million dollars and support! 

 prosperous communities. Each year the products of the forest 

 are cut and sold, enriching both the government and the woods 

 workers. Each year, too, the forests become more useful and 



