AMERICAN FORESTRY 



439 



IS STILL AT IT; WHAT ABOUT UNITED STATES? 



swindled the government out of a few 

 thousand dollars. A man maliciously or 

 through carelessness starts a forest fire 

 which destroys a million dollars worth of 

 timber, but not a thousandth part of the 

 effort and expense; is devoted to capturing 

 and punishing him that was given to the 

 insignificant counterfeiter. That is just 

 one instance in which a mighty improve- 

 ment could be, made. One who starts a 

 forest fire through malice or carelessness- 

 for there should be no difference, recog- 

 nized in these crimes ought to receive far 

 greater punishment than a counterfeiter. 



Lansing Capital Nni'S : The American 

 public's duty to protect and 

 scientifically develop forests 

 and plant lands most suitable 

 for tree growing is so evident, 

 according to the Ame,rican For- 

 estry Association, that it seems 

 a shame conservationists should 

 be compelled to use the tre- 

 mendous efforts they are com- 

 pelled to employ for arousing 

 public action. 



The need of reforestation is 

 not all talk. It is real, and 

 more and more as the cost of 

 wooderi construction goes up, 

 we realize the harm our for- 

 bears did in wanton waste in 

 the cutting of our timber sup- 

 ply and their neglect to take 

 means to replace this supply 

 for the, benefit of the genera- 

 tions which followed them. 



It would seem that now is 

 the time for the .American peo- 

 ple; to quit worrying over 

 whether the flapper is going to 

 the eternal bow-wows and 

 whether our neighbor is mak- 

 ing booze in his cellar and set- 

 tle some of the big questions 

 which confront us. And the matter of re- 

 forestation is one of the biggest, if not 

 actually the biggest, with which we are 

 compelled to wrestle. 



ed States is generally admitted. It requires 

 no argumentative support. What it does 

 require is financial support. Men who 

 own or control forests are eager to sell 

 them or their product to enjoy the advan- 

 tages which the money would bring. Men 

 who do not own them do not care to plant 

 them because a forest is a crop which re- 

 quires fifty years or more to de,velop suf- 

 ficiently to assure a .profit and in this day 

 we do not want to wait so long for our 

 money. 



That being the case, the business of es- 

 tablishing "town forests" which is advo- 

 cated by the American Forestry Associa- 

 tion, is of interest. A man grows old, 



GOING, GOING 



iGlMMe ALL 



1 Vol) eoT! 



in better and more productive condition 

 than it is today. 



Some European cities have had town 

 forests for centuries and are still enjoying 

 a regular profit from them. Fitchburg, 

 Mass., is said to have the first legally 

 established town forest in the. United 

 States. Petersham follows. Still others 

 will follow. The more the, merrier. The 

 plan takes away from forestry its chief 

 objection that the man who plants may 

 ne.ver live to reap. The town which plants 

 will live to reap. If enough towns plant 

 they will save to the country one essential 

 natural resource which is now in nnminent 

 danger of being totally destroyed. 



The American Forestry As- 

 sociation wants to help every 

 town get a start. Cook coun- 

 ty, in a way, has a start in 

 its forest preserves, thouglh 

 they are not designed primarily 

 for timber producing purposes. 

 We believe it will pay towns 

 throughout the country, par- 

 ticularly those near barren soil, 

 especially adapted to forestry, 

 to look into the subject. It 

 might even pay the govern- 

 ment to help them. 



Smith, for the Newspaper Enterprise Association. 



Dallas News: Fires make, 

 unburned forests more prec- 

 ious to their owners, and there- 

 fore more costly to those, of 

 us who use their products. 

 Ethically, it is probably the 

 duty of the owners of the pri- 

 vate forests to protect them 

 from fire,s, bu* it is evident 

 that they are under a smallci 

 economic inducement to do so 

 than are the buyers of lumber. 

 It is the buyers of lumber who 

 foot the damage done by tor- 

 est fires. 



Atlanta Constitution : By our procrasti- 

 nation we are not only hazarding an im- 

 portant industry, but we are blindly ig- 

 noring nature's ability and willingness to 

 reclothe millions of acres, valuable chiefly 

 for their timber production capabilities, 

 wkh forests that would b'- a perpetual 

 source of revenue through the years to 

 come. 



Chicago Tribune : The need of timber 



conservation and reforestation in the Unit- 



perhaps dies, in fifty years. He cannot 

 plant a tree or a grove with any probabil- 

 ity of living to enjoy the timber which it 

 will produce. A town, on the other hand, 

 is young at 50 years and perhaps everi at 

 100 or 200 years. A town can plant for- 

 ests, tend them, and profit by them. 



Petersham, a New England village, is 

 trying the experiment. It has turned its 

 250 acre poor farm into a town forest. 

 The pine stumpage of thirteen acres al- 

 ready has been sold for $5,200. One hun- 

 dred acres, now bare and unprofitable are 

 to be planted to trees which will be ready 

 to cut for timber in fifty or sixty years. 

 It is estimated that $50,000 can be taken 

 from this forest in that time and leave it 



New York Herald : The Southern States 

 are leading the country in teaching forestry 

 in the public schools. The Tennessee law, 

 which is described in American Forestry 

 for May, is very explicit and comprehen- 

 sive in its provisions covering thi"> subject. 



It requires the curriculum of every pub- 

 lic school in the State to provide for the 

 study of forestry and plant life. The 

 American people have long needed forestry 

 education. Their country has suffered se- 

 verely and is still suffering, from the lack 

 of it. Education on the subject of the 

 preservation of our timber resources is 

 needed from the ground up, and the bed- 

 rock on which to lay the foundation of 

 that education is in the public schools^ 



