798 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



information obtained through research. Their field is divided 

 between problems local to the States in which they are situated and 

 problems of basic value to all branches of forestry, outside of as well 

 as in the State. 



In general, an opportunity for most effective cooperation in research 

 is provided by the Federal forest experiment stations and Forest 

 Products Laboratory, the State forestry departments, the State forest 

 schools, and the State agricultural experiment stations, each within 

 its own field coordinating systematically in the task of increasing the 

 knowledge needed for forest management. 



The systematic cooperation of these agencies and the Federal 

 Government, coupled with the large amount of technical research 

 which cannot be escaped by private industries, is essential if the 

 expansive field presented to forest research is to be covered amply and 

 economically. The Federal Government carries the responsibility 

 for research on national and regional problems, and on local problems 

 affecting national-forest administration. Many of the agricultural 

 experiment stations have facilities for at least some classes of forest 

 research. 



The State forest schools carry the dual responsibility of aiding both 

 the national and the State services. For the national service, in 

 addition to supplying the trained personnel needed, they are in a 

 position to increase very greatly, from local sources, the fund of 

 knowledge made available by other research agencies, and especially 

 to undertake research along lines not otherwise provided for. They 

 can assist the State departments materially by concrete research on 

 State problems for which the departments may not have time or 

 facilities. In both respects the research function of the schools is 

 unquestionable and outstanding. They should be a much stronger 

 link in the chain of forest research activities than they now are. 



The funds at present expended by the States on forest research are 

 relatively meager. The proportion of their total allotments now 

 spent by the State forest departments on research and forest land 

 surveys (amounting to about 2 percent) should be greatly increased 

 through additional appropriations to permit of an expansion of re- 

 search activities. An average of 10 percent of the appropriations to 

 the forestry departments of State universities and colleges might rea- 

 sonably be expected to be devoted to research; and the increasing 

 importance of farm woods justifies far greater research effort by the 

 agricultural experiment stations than is now being given. 



AID IN REFORESTATION 



The outstanding facts with respect to State efforts in reforestation 

 are brought out under the discussion of Federal Financial and Other 

 Direct^ Aid to the States. Thirty-eight States, Puerto Kico, and 

 Hawaii are now growing forest trees in their own nurseries or con- 

 tracting to have them grown, selling a part of them to the public in 

 accordance with their own State laws, and planting the remainder on 

 their State forests. In these 38 States 76,63 1 ,000 forest trees, sufficient 

 to plant from 75,000 to 80,000 acres of land, were grown for these 

 purposes during the calendar year 1930. 



The funds appropriated by the States for reforestation activities 

 for the year 1932 total over $1,000,000. The greatest development 



