PRIVATE FORESTRY. 



[Address by Henry S. Graves before the New England Forestry Conference, 

 Boston, February 24, 1919.] 



IMPORTANCE OF PRIVATE FORESTS. 



THE emphasis placed on the public forests in recent years has 

 tended to throw into the background the problems of our pri- 

 vate forests. The very magnitude of the National Forest enterprise 

 has created in the minds of many people the impression that the 

 problem of forestry in this country is already on the way to definite 

 solution. In point of fact only certain initial steps have been taken ; 

 the most difficult problem, that of the protection and right handling 

 of forests privately owned, is still before us. The importance of 

 the private forests to our country is evident when one considers that 

 97 per cent of the timber and other wood products used in the United 

 States is obtained from them. Less than 2 per cent of the saw- 

 mills of the country are operating on public forests. Private owners 

 hold four-fifths of the standing timber of the country, and it is the 

 best and most accessible timber. Nearly the entire supply of cer- 

 tain important commercial species is in private ownership, such as 

 eastern white pine and spruce, southern pine, cypress, redwood, and 

 most of the hardwoods. 



DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED IN MEETING WAR DEMANDS FOR 



TIMBER. 



The experience of the war called sharp attention to the condition 

 of our remaining timber supplies. The bulk of the material for gen- 

 eral construction was obtained from a few large centers of original 

 forest, often involving long rail hauls and high cost. Extreme dif- 

 ficulties were encountered in obtaining promptly an adequate supply 

 of specialized products, like some of the high-grade hardwoods. If 

 the emergency had come 15 years from now we would have had 

 very great embarrassment in obtaining even the lumber needed for 

 general construction, except at great sacrifice in time, cost, and 



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