lO.U 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



I'UKPLE MOUNTAIN" XKAR NANKING, CHINA 



General view of the lower slopes of Purple Mountain showing the house erected for tools, seeds, etc., and to serve as living quarters for the 

 siiperintendent in charge of the work. The tree plantations are shown by light dots in the middle distance towards the left. The river 

 visible in the distance is the Vang-tze-Kiang. 



"Of the two Ijasic materials of our ci\ ilization, wood 

 and iron, the forest supplies one. The dominant place 

 of the forest in our national economy is well illustrated 

 by the fact that no article whatsoever, whether of use or 

 ornament, whether it be for food, shelter, clothing, con- 

 venience, protection, or decoration, can be produced and 

 delivered to the user, as industry is now organized, with- 

 out the help of the forest in supplying wood. An 

 examination of the history of any article, including the 

 production of the raw material, and its manufacture, 

 transportation and distribution, will at once make this 

 point clear." 



These remarks, while made with particular reference 

 to America, ai)i)ly with ec|ual force to China. Most por- 

 tions of the new republic lie well north in the temperate 

 zone, where fuel ftir warmth is a vital necessity during a 

 large part of the year. ICxisting industries require large 

 quantities of fuel and of lumber and no one will hesitate 

 freely to admit that with a cheap and abundant supply 

 of these so essential commodities, the standard of living 

 among all classes, their comfort, health and productive- 

 ness would all show a proni])! and striking rise. ISut 

 under existing conditions most of the needed forest prod- 

 ucts must be imported and the resulting drain on the 

 financial resources of the C(juntry is among the least 

 harmful effects of a most unfortunate situation. The 

 chief harm comes from the handica]) to industrial devel- 

 opment, from the depressed standard of li\ ing. and from 

 the low productiveness per capita. I'*veii if means for 



cheap and rapid transportation were available, importa- 

 tion of lumber from abroad could never form a satisfac- 

 tory substitute for a domestic timber supply. The great 

 mass of the population is poor and can ill-afford the 

 added cost of transportation even granting that it were 

 low and the profits of the many dealers through whom 

 the imported wood must pass. 



Since trees have vanished, brush and wild shrub 

 growth of all kinds have eagerly been consumed, until 

 the very roots of the plants are dug from the ground to 

 serve as a scanty supply of fuel for cooking and for 

 warmth. The dead grass and the stubble from the fields 

 are raked clean to eke out the desperately needed but 

 lamentably inadeciuate supply. And then comes fire dur- 

 ing the late autumn to add its share to an already almost 

 hopeless situation. 



Xaturally under such conditions floods are by no 

 ireans rare, for the essential part played by forests in 

 the protection of stream flow by conserving a large por- 

 tion of the rainfall and giving it out later during the dry 

 season is too well known and recognized to need ex{X)si- 

 tion here. 



In this connection, also, the fixation of wind-driven 

 sands and loose earth is too important to be overlooked. 

 To bring about such a result there is in most places no 

 agency so effective and so profitable as the establishment 

 of forest growth. 



