FOREST PROBLEMS OF GEORGIA'S HARDWOOD REGION 



677 



cided embarrassment, to be blessed with a whole corn 

 appetite and a soft mash digestion or, on the other 

 hand, to have inherited a controlling mental complex in 

 favor of always remaining a mere chick. There is a 

 normal course of development which a rightly initiated 

 forest program will necessarily follow, because it will 

 have inherited a proper sense of proportion. A program 

 should be properly balanced to take full account of fu- 

 ture needs, but it must not start oiif too far in advance 

 of the times to keep its feet squarely under it. There 

 must be adequate provision for technical studies from 

 the outset ; that is essential. But what must be stressed 

 at the beginning are the problems which surround the 

 first stage in forestry, which must be solved before re- 

 search work in forestry can be assured of its ground. 



Intensive silviculture must grow up with the second- 

 growth. The pervading influence of our late lamented 

 virgin forests, the present deep-seated and in-grown 

 methods of large-scale exploitation, the prevailing con- 

 ditions of demand and supply of wood products and, 

 above all, the great forest land areas that demand atten- 

 tion, do not form a combination favorable to intensive 

 practice. There is something much more immediately 

 important for the as yet totally uncared for portions of 

 Georgia's hardwood land, and that is to get results, no 

 matter how modest, on all this land. No matter 

 how much we may resent the present competi- 

 tive logging methods with their disregard for anything 

 except immediate income, we are forced to take them 

 into account. If they are to be modified in the near 

 future we may be sure it will not be by an abrupt 

 transition to intensive forest practice. 



The second-growth period of forestry is at hand all 

 over the country, following the lead of New England. 

 The obvious thing to do is to establish second-growth on 

 a large scale. We shall get a proportion of tree weeds, 

 no doubt, and the new forest will be very far from per- 

 fect. It will be for the silviculture of the future to 

 make it an efficient and smoothly running means of 

 continuous supply. What we are after is a new forest 

 in which forestry of our own devising and adapted to 

 the needs of each forest type and each local community 

 with its peculiar industrial demands, may be practiced. 

 The public requirements on forest lands, which are 

 now being formulated, will give us definite means for 

 securing this workable new forest of second-growth. 



The conditions established by the minimum require- 

 ments may be taken as the balanced judgment of nearly 

 a generation of foresters, or at least such as have writ- 

 ten records of their findings. The requirements fixed 

 upon as the minimum have come into being after a 

 deliberate culling from a large group of possible meth- 

 ods, some of them more desirable but too advanced for 

 present practice, so that the regulations established art 

 not empirical in their origin. If we are ready to accept 

 the premise that to bring our wild lands into some pro- 

 ducing condition is but a preliminary step in more 

 intensive silviculture practice, we have made a great 

 stride. New methods can then be tried as they shmild 

 be, on experimental areas by specially equipped inves- 



tigators, and the general application of theories to 

 large areas will cease, pending proof by actual trial. 

 With a knowledge of minimum requirements we shall 

 have something definite to work with, which we know 

 will, if effectively carried out, produce the broad re- 

 sults that are our immediate need. 



A Tribute to Loyal Service 



Roy H. Goodell, a Forest officer employed by the 

 Forest Service on the Washington Forest, was killed 

 on the evening of July 6, 1922, by a large boulder while 

 he was in the act of putting out a fire with a shovel and 

 by the use of soil. Shortly after the fatality Mr. L. H. 

 Pederson, a welfare worker at the City of Seattle power 

 camp, learned of the occurrence, inspected the con- 

 ditions surrounding the death, and on account of the deep 

 impression that he received at that time wrote the fol- 

 lowing memoir which is a grand tribute to the loyal 

 service rendered by a humble Forest officer. 



"With Shovel in Hand." 

 Killed with shovel in hand 

 A Forest Officer. 



Worn with sleepless nights and days of care, 



Just back from the towering peak. 



Where he searched over canyon and glen for a 



"smolder," 

 Down a thousand steps, o'er the dizzy cliff, 

 To trample it out with scorched feet 

 Then up again to challenge the eagle 

 In searching the smoky haze. 



Where the cooling shade and tumbling brook 



Refreshed laden beast and man ; 



Where the songsters of heaven and their furry friends 



Played fearlessly hide and seek ; 



Where the boulders were softened with lichens and moss 



.\nd shielded the blossom and fern ; 



Where the Gardener Divine for age upon age 



Mad labored and planted and grown. 



A blast as from hell in a moment of time. 



Has spewed its flame-scarred wreck. 



There he worked, there he fought, 



There the boulder shot like the lightning bolt 



And struck him down, with shovel in hand. 



Like him would I go. 



Whether I work with shovel or ax. 



With square, with lathe, or with hoe. 



May my body be soiled with the grime of its toil. 



And my hands be scarred with its flame : 



Though my face be so marred that they know me not. 



And the conflict my body has torn, 



May stranger and friend say of me as of him 



"He fell with his shovel in hand." 



L. H. Pederson {Parson Pete). 

 May we all redeem our every responsibility that the 

 Service may receive such unsolicited praise from the 

 public whom we serve. 



