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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



its existence, which is threatened unless forestry be prac- 

 ticed. Under regulated management the lumber industry 

 could draw an inexhaustible supply from the forests. 



Manufacturing may secure its raw materials from the 

 forest, or use wood in shipping its products or utilize 

 for power purposes waterpowers dependent for their 

 constancy upon preservation of the forest cover. 



Agricultural land throughout most sections of New 

 England is intermixed in relatively small areas with forest 

 land. Under such circumstances agriculture must be com- 

 bined with forestry in order to realize the highest returns. 

 Thousands of acres of agricultural lands have been left 

 idle because of the exhaustion locally of the forest re- 

 source and the consequent departure of the lumbermen 

 who furnish the farmer his market. 



The revenue annually derived from fishing, hunting 

 and the summer business reaches a large total and is the 

 chief cash income of many communities. An attractive 

 forest cover is an important item in holding and increas- 

 ing this business. 



When fully appreciative of the part in their prosperity 

 which the forest resource has played, and is capable of 

 playing in the future, the people of New England will 

 demand one of two things or both namely : 



That the great majority of the forest lands be pur- 

 chased and managed by the federal or state governments ; 

 or, that such restrictions be placed upon private owners 

 of forest lands as will, while utilizing, perpetuate the 

 forest resources. 



FOREST INVESTIGATIONS NECESSARY 



T? VERY state is concerned in and affected by the en- 

 ^ denavor to establish more forest experiment sta- 

 tions. These stations will make it possible to secure in- 

 formation by forest investigations, which will result in 

 increasing the timber production on forest lands. Con- 

 gress has been asked for appropriations to establish such 

 stations in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Florida, 

 Minnesota and California. These are not alone for the 

 benefit of the states in which they are to be located if the 

 appropriations are granted, but for all the states near 

 them. This phase of the situation is commented upon 

 by the Lowell, Massachusetts, Sun which, after commend- 

 ing the association's efforts for the establishment of a 



forest experiment station in the White Mountain National 

 Forest says : "But it is important that such an experiment 

 should help Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as 

 New Hampshire. There is a vast extent of waste land 

 that might profitably be used for raising timber. At 

 present, it is left to Nature to raise her own crop without 

 any assistance. The young trees from seeds blown by 

 the wind are not always the kind that will produce the 

 best lumber or the best woodpulp. Give us the experi- 

 ment station to show us how to restore our vanishing 

 forests and to supply lumber enough to meet our needs 

 of construction." 



NEWSPAPER EDITORIALS ON FORESTRY 



TN the working out of the campaign for a forest policy 

 " which shall result in a definite program for perpetuat- 

 ing our forests the American Forestry Association has 

 found editors of newspapers keenly alive to the impor- 

 tance of the movement. They have been most liberal in 

 giving space in their news columns and feature pages and 

 have followed such publicity by forceful editorial utter- 

 ances. Among the recent editorials is a notable one in 

 the Providence (R. I.) Journal which says: 



There is an appealing sentiment in the plan of the 

 American Forestry Association for planting American 

 trees on the battlefields of France in memory of the 

 American soldiers who lost their lives in the war with 

 Germany, and official acceptance of the offer by the 

 French Government insures the carrying out of one of 

 the finest memorials yet proposed. The plan is unusual 

 in that it has a practical value; the devastated parts of 

 France are greatly in need of reforestation, and aid 

 from America will facilitate the work of preparing the 

 damage done by the armies of the invaders in the regions 

 of the Aisne, the Oise, the Ardennes and the Somme. 

 France always has taken the best of care of her forests, 



but the war-time spoilation of its timber has subjected 

 the country to a loss that can hardly be calculated. Any 

 aid extended now is doubly valuable no time should be 

 lost in sending oak, ash, poplar, fir and other American 

 trees to France. 



This memorial, besides bringing the French and Ameri- 

 can peoples into closer relations, should revive interest 

 in the subject of reforestation in the United States. Much 

 can be learned from the operations of the forestry depart- 

 ment of France, particularly in the line of providing an 

 uninterrupted supply of timber. The operations of 

 American lumbermen so far as the future is concerned 

 have been hardly less destructive than that of the German 

 armies in France. America has vast areas suitable for 

 the cultivation of timber; what is needed is the co- 

 operation of Federal and State Governments and the 

 owners of the land. When timber is regarded as a crop 

 there will be no scarcity of lumber. The shortage here 

 is the result of failure to profit by the centuries of ex- 

 perience of the nations of Europe in setting out new trees 

 wherever the mature growth was cut for the market. It 

 may be added that there are opportunities for memorial 

 forests in the United States as well as in France. 



