74 8 



Yearbook of Agriculture 1949 



areas of India, Pakistan, Burma, and 

 of parts of the East Indies has been 

 placed under good forest management. 

 So, too, with parts of colonial empires 

 in Africa. 



For many other regions and coun- 

 tries no records are available to show 

 what fraction of forest land is handled 

 so as to remain a productive asset. 

 Though available evidence is far from 

 detailed, it seems that in Latin America 

 and Africa, at least, the destruction of 

 forests is outstripping the adoption of 

 sound practices. 



THE RATE OF APPLYING FOREST MAN- 

 AGEMENT is, of necessity, slow. 



First of all, a nation itself must have 

 the genuine intent, expressed in forest 

 policy and forest law, to conserve its 

 forests for its own benefit. Then a forest 

 organization must be established to put 

 into effect the policy and law decided 

 on. To build a competent organization 

 where none has existed always involves 

 such time-consuming steps as providing 

 professional education and training, 

 developing operating facilities, decid- 

 ing on the form of the organization, 

 developing leadership, and obtaining 

 required financial support. A vital for- 

 estry program must come from within 

 the individual country. 



A true and insistent initial realiza- 

 tion of the need for forestry seldom 

 arises until forest products become 

 locally or nationally scarce. Until that 

 stage is reached, exploitation is com- 

 monly tolerated or accepted by govern- 

 ments and peoples. At present, the 

 greatest continental area in which this 

 realization is developing seems to be 

 Latin America. Certainly the response 

 in the Latin-American Conference on 

 Forestry and Forest Products in April 

 1948, sponsored by the Food and Agri- 

 culture Organization, shows active in- 

 terest. At the conference, several 

 countries, large and small, planned for 

 the establishment of effective forestry, 

 spurred on by the existence of local 

 wood shortages and by a realization of 

 the part forests and forestry can have 

 in the whole economy. 



European countries generally are 

 placing great emphasis on restoring 

 forests destroyed by war and on im- 

 proving the growth in overcut forests, as 

 part of their basic recovery programs. 



In several countries of Asia, new 

 governments are taking over the for- 

 estry programs already set up by 

 former colonial services. The United 

 States is particularly interested in the 

 program in the Philippines, which is 

 continuing from the foundation work 

 done by this country. 



THE CURRENT GROWTH on produc- 

 tive forest lands is a measure of the 

 effectiveness of forestry. In the coun- 

 tries with the most advanced practices, 

 the actual growth is a relatively high 

 proportion (up to 8085 percent) of 

 that which forest soils could produce 

 under the best conditions. 



The growth potential is realized by 

 curbing destructive forces, such as 

 fire, insects, and diseases; by produc- 

 tive use of small trees and limbs of 

 trees for pulp, fuel wood, and so on; 

 and by frequent working of the forest 

 so that slow-growing trees are removed 

 and used. 



In contrast, no net current growth 

 is obtained from forest lands when the 

 forest is undisturbed (virgin forest) 

 and growth is offset by natural loss and 

 decay. That is the situation in many 

 unworked forests that is, the pro- 

 ductive, inaccessible forests. Nor is net 

 current growth obtained when re- 

 stocking of productive forest soils has 

 failed. That is the situation when de- 

 structive forces, such as fire or logging 

 followed by fire, have destroyed forests 

 and prevented regrowth. 



The estimation of total growth of 

 forests is complex and difficult, and it 

 is understandable that in many coun- 

 tries only a general attempt to do so 

 has been made. Indeed, valid estimates 

 usually can be prepared only after for- 

 ests have been placed under systematic 

 management. 



Even more difficult is the estimation 

 of natural losses caused by fire, insects, 

 and disease. Fire and insect losses tend 



