A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1137 



by State agencies and pine owners in control application ; and 5 cents 

 (3 percent) was expended for control by the National Forest Service 

 and National Park Service. 



The blister rust problem is essentially national in scope. The fact 

 that the Federal Government assumes leadership in cooperating with 

 the States has given them the necessary urge to carry on with this 

 work under a systematic program which has accomplished effective, 

 large-scale control results. Without Federal leadership it is doubtful 

 if the States could carry on any extended program. In addition to 

 giving impetus to the work, leadership has been furnished which 

 results in coordination of effort between the agencies concerned in 

 the work, and in the development of a greater appreciation of the 

 value of forest care on the part of timber owners. Also this leader- 

 ship has resulted in better coordination of effort between States and 

 has furnished a medium for exchange of ideas which has been helpful 

 to the State organizations in meeting their forestry problems. The 

 same type of organization which has proved effective in securing 

 control of blister rust could be adapted to a much wider field in secur- 

 ing application of the results of investigations in forest pathology. 



FUTURE AID TO STATES 



The Federal Government must continue to bear much of the expense 

 of investigating forest tree diseases to determine principles for their 

 control. This is indirect aid which is properly a Federal function 

 since many forest diseases, just as forest trees, are regional in their 

 distribution. Rather than direct financial aid to the States for dis- 

 ease investigation, the Federal Government under the provisions of 

 the McSweeney-McNary Act proposes to make its contribution to 

 the solution of problems of more than local concern through patholo- 

 gists at its regional forest experiment stations. Federal aid cannot 

 and should not be expected to make unnecessary the investigation by 

 the States of their own pathological problems either independently 

 or in cooperation with the regional station. 



Great improvement in the utilization of research results could be 

 ob tamed by the development of field service men, of the type already 

 employed in the white pine blister-rust control work, and where prac- 

 ticable with similar State cooperation, to help in the development by 

 landowners and lumbermen of control work against native diseases. 



Quarantine must be maintained by the Federal Government to pre- 

 vent as far as possible the introduction of diseased or potentially dis- 

 eased trees from foreign countries or from one region to another within 

 the United States. For the reasons earlier indicated, individual 

 States cannot protect themselves adequately by their own quarantine. 

 Quarantines are a more important part of the program for protection 

 against foreign tree diseases than they are against diseases of most 

 crop plants, since it requires an infinitely longer time to develop a 

 resistant tree by crossbreeding or selection than is needed to develop 

 a resistant annual plant. 



Because of the national character of the interests at stake, the 

 Federal Government may need to give direct financial as well as tech- 

 nical aid to State or private owners in the location and eradication 

 of new introduced diseases. Aid is extended to the States for planting 

 trees, and protection against fires; it should also include protection 



