A NATIONAL PLAN FOB AMERICAN FORESTRY 1421 



information will these huge recreational forest lands adequately and 

 permanently serve the purpose for which they are so valuable. Con- 

 sequently specialized study of diseases in recreational forests which 

 has just begun will need to be continued for an indefinite period. 



The most serious threat to our forests is in new parasites, introduced 

 from foreign countries. In spite of quarantine regulations, we must 

 at all times be prepared for the introduction of diseases as destructive 

 as chestnut blight or white pine blister rust. One of the best safe- 

 guards against sudden and disastrous epidemics from such a cause is 

 knowledge of our native diseases, and there should be a sufficient 

 number of forest pathologists in the different parts of the country 

 and in touch with the forestry workers so that a newcomer among the 

 diseases will be recognized as such soon after it enters the country 

 and while there is still time to eradicate it or at least to delay its 

 spread. The pathological organization should furthermore be suffi- 

 ciently large to be able to put a number of trained men on investiga- 

 tion of an introduced disease at short notice without having to take 

 the workers from other projects which depend for success on con- 

 tinuity of effort. This means the maintenance of a larger research 

 organization than would be barely necessary for study of native dis- 

 eases, just as the country mam tains a larger army during peace times 

 than is needed, that it may form the nucleus of an expanded organi- 

 zation in time of war. At times it is essential to make investigations 

 of threatening diseases in the country of origin, to help in devising 

 efficient quarantine regulations for their exclusion, or to furnish in- 

 formation or assistance in eradication efforts against diseases that have 

 already been imported. 



Pathological investigation can make the most immediate contribu- 

 tion toward maintenance of timber supplies through a study of the 

 fungi that attack forest products. By the best estimates available, 

 the volume of our annual saw timber cut which is used for replacing 

 wood that has decayed in storage or use is equal to about one half of 

 the annual growth. Our unfavorable timber supply balance sheet 

 can be most quickly helped by preventing some of this waste. Fairly 

 satisfactory but expensive methods of preventing decay by preserva- 

 tives are being applied extensively in the rougher types of use. Cheap- 

 er methods and methods that can be applied to wood in house con- 

 struction, that will be free from danger to the occupants and otherwise 

 less objectionable than present preservative processes, need to be 

 developed. Timber preservation has already been considered more 

 specifically in the section entitled " Enlarging the Consumption of 

 Forest Products." 



The chemical methods for prevention of sap stain have been carried 

 far enough to show that this defect, which aggravates the difficulties 

 of both wood producer and wood consumer and increases the forest 

 drain, can be almost entirely prevented by inexpensive procedures. 

 Preliminary results of the studies on this subject have already been 

 carried into large-scale practice in some localities. Further study will 

 be needed to bring the treatments to a point of consistent effectiveness 

 and adapt them to different localities, timber species, and types of 

 utilization. 



One of the less obvious but no less important research projects is 

 to simplify the precautions in methods of handling and use of un- 

 treated wood that are recommended to protect it from fungous attack. 



