A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 989 



New York City, which a few years ago made a partial study of forest 

 taxation in New York; the National Industrial Conference Board, 

 New York City, which made a similar investigation in Wisconsin; and 

 the Institute for Economic Research at Chicago, 111. 



The aggregate annual expenditures for research relating to forestry 

 by the institutions in the group above considered is probably in the 

 neighborhood of $180,000. 



FOREST RESEARCH AT ARBORETA AND BOTANICAL 



GARDENS 



Arboreta form an important link in the chain of forest research as 

 the means by which trees from widely separate parts of the world may 

 be brought together, tested, and compared to determine their relative 

 merits for timber production, ornamental and other purposes. This 

 comparative study of different tree species and varieties, or of the 

 same species from different climatic regions, brings out in striking 

 contrast important differences which might otherwise easily escape 

 observation difference in frost hardiness, drought resistance, sus- 

 ceptibility to insect attacks and disease, growth rate, form and quality 

 of the timber, and other characteristics that bear upon the success of 

 forestry. Such studies give a better understanding of the conditions 

 under which the different species can be grown, and often lead to ex- 

 tensions of the geographic range within which they may be safely 

 planted. 



Within recent years, other lines of research have further extended 

 the usefulness of arboreta. One such field of great promise is that of 

 genetics, which seeks to develop, through crossbreeding, trees of better 

 quality, straighter grain, more rapid growth, greater resistance to 

 climatic extremes, insects, and disease, or of more certainty and ease of 

 reproduction than the present strains. Other fields in which some 

 arboreta are already carrying on investigations of value to forestry 

 are those of plant physiology and related botanical sciences. The 

 laws of tree growth, reproduction, water conduction, nutrition, etc., 

 and their relation to soil and other environmental conditions, can be 

 studied to excellent advantage in arboreta. Success in timber pro- 

 duction and in the use of trees for other purposes requires a full under- 

 standing of these laws. 



Since many of the results to be obtained in arboreta are applicable 

 only in the climatic regions within which the arboreta are located, 

 there should be arboreta in all such regions. According to figures 

 compiled in 193 1 1 there are now 72 active arboreta and botanical 

 gardens in the United States, with five more in prospect. The 

 distribution is very uneven; 12 are in New York, 10 in Pennsylvania, 

 7 in Ohio, 6 in Massachusetts, and 8 in California. The remaining 

 29 which are active are scattered among 17 States, the District of 

 Columbia, and Hawaii. These gardens vary a great deal in degree 

 of usefulness for scientific research, and only a few are regularly used 

 for this purpose. Among these few may be mentioned the Arnold 

 Arboretum, Jamaica Plain, Mass.; the New York Botanical Garden, 

 the Bronx, New York City ; the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn, 

 N.Y. ; the Missouri Botanical Gardens, St. Louis, Mo. ; the arboreta of 



i Report of the Committee on Botanical Gardens and Arboretums, American Association of Nurserymen, 

 July, 1931. 



