230 FORESTS AND MANKIND 



coming interested in forestry it has become, in many local- 

 ities, a money making venture. 



Primarily the lumberman is interested in tree growing be- 

 cause forestry seems the only way of perpetuating his business. 

 Yet, although the area of forest destruction increases annually, 

 actual accomplishment in private forestry is not moving as 

 swiftly as the state of forest depletion requires. For this there 

 are several reasons. 



Fire risk is one. High taxes is another. And still another is 

 the natural hesitation timber owners may have for beginning 

 a new and unfamiliar venture. Yet here and there a start is 

 being made in industrial reforestation. In the redwood coun- 

 try on the Pacific Coast a number of lumber companies have 

 established nurseries and are planting young redwood trees. 

 Redwood, under good conditions, will grow to saw-log pro- 

 ducing trees in forty years and their rapid growth should in- 

 sure good profits. 



In the Southern pine region one of the largest lumber com- 

 panies is planting thousands of pines each year. By the time 

 their mature timber is cut, these seedlings will have grown to 

 merchantable size and be ready for the harvest. In the North- 

 east are many privately owned plantations of varying sizes that 

 are proving to be very attractive investments. Large tracts are 

 being cut under forestry principles seed trees are left, fire 

 kept out, and conditions made favorable for vigorous, healthy 

 tree growth. In the higher mountainous regions, practically no 

 private forestry has been attempted growth is too slow there 

 and it is too far from the large centers of utilization. 



For the United States as a whole the acres of privately owned 



