A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1141 



Eroblems of hardwood forestry than the stations in the West, where 

 ardwoods are not important. The hardwood forest problems are 

 themselves widely different as, for instance, those of the Northeastern 

 States and the southern river bottoms. Naval stores investigations 

 are limited to one station covering the longleaf and slash pine territory 

 of the Southern States. The development of a forest-planting 

 technique, on the other hand, though studied at every station, follows 

 distinctly different lines in each region. These differences give each 

 station its own distinctive field of regional activity, while all the 

 stations combine to increase the national fund of knowledge in the 

 major investigative subjects. 



The concentration of forest research activities at regional stations 

 places at the disposal of the States a local source of information much 

 of which can be directly applied to the solution of State problems or 

 those of private timberland owners. A good illustration is the naval 

 stores research conducted by the Southern Forest Experiment Sta- 

 tion and the Forest Products Laboratory in the southern pine region. 

 From South Carolina to Texas the behavior of the turpentine- 

 producing pines and the climatic and soil conditions affecting gum 

 yields and extraction are sufficiently alike to warrant the expectation 

 that research results obtained at representative points will be appli- 

 cable with minor modifications at other points in the region. Thus 

 the Federal work on such problems as prolonging the period of profit- 

 able turpentining, increasing the flow of gum, protecting the stand, or 

 improving the management of the forest in other ways should be of 

 quite general use, to individual States and to private operators in 

 them. Similar illustrations could be given for every forest region 

 served by a forest experiment station, and for every line of investi- 

 gative activity. Thus, in forest-fire studies the results of the statis- 

 tical analysis of past fires that is being made regionally by some of the 

 forest experiment stations will incidentally assist State and private 

 fire-protective organizations in improving their technique and effi- 

 ciency. The regional studies of forest-fire damage similarly furnish 

 local data applicable to State problems. In like manner, the Federal 

 research in forest range management in the Western States, while 

 regional in scope, has direct value to the States as a means for improv- 

 ing and perpetuating both the livestock industry and the production 

 of timber within their boundaries. 



In the field of forest economics, the research now being conducted 

 by the Forest Service on a regional or national basis carries with it 

 a high degree of usefulness to the States and to private timberland 

 owners. In numerous instances this aid is direct, particularly in the 

 State aspect of the investigations of forest taxation and insurance, 

 financial aspects of forestry, and the forest survey. The research on 

 economic problems of the forest industries and on statistics of pro- 

 duction, consumption, and requirement is directly serviceable to the 

 States, as a basis for public policy. This field of research is so broad 

 and important to all work in forestry that no other investigative 

 effort, State, regional, or national in scope, can be regarded as com- 

 plete or fully satisfactory until its economic relationships have been 

 defined. 



For the mutual advantage of close contact between the regional 

 stations, States, and private owners, the headquarters of the stations 

 are placed in or near the larger cities and, where practicable, at uni- 



