416 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



great commercial value, and still less 

 do the actual specimens, which are 

 branchy, open-grown trees that would 

 never be good timber. The lumber- 

 man does not deal in the product. The 

 producer of Christmas trees is the 

 farmer who culls them from waste 

 land, and gets a return from an ordi- 

 narily worthless growth, which, in 

 many instances is somewhat of a nuis- 

 ance besides. The annual crop is esti- 

 mated to be not less than 7,000,000 

 trees, not counting those culled from 

 suburban commons and used in the 

 cities near which they grow. Yet the 

 whole effect of Christmas tree cutting 

 is infinitesimal upon the life of the for- 

 est. It is true that there are occasions 

 where the trees have been cut waste- 

 fully or from areas where they have 

 some value as cover. In such cases 

 the remedy lies, not in a prohibition 

 of cutting, but in a wiser method. Also 

 there is some danger that an owner 

 of young evergreens may sell his trees 

 for less as Christmas trees than they 

 would bring as growing stock for a 

 future timber supply. However, it 

 may be taken for granted that the own- 

 er of woodland is looking out for the 

 best possible return from that wood- 

 land, and the trees will be cut and 

 marketed, or judiciously saved, accord- 

 ing to the psospects of the greatest 

 monetary return. 



A great measure of the success of 

 the Forest Service, one of the youngest 

 and most flourishing of the Govern- 

 ment bureaus, has been the preponder- 

 ant weight of public opinion behind it. 

 It is also true that the greatest work 

 which the Forest Service has had to 

 do has been to educate the people to 

 the idea that forests are primarily for 

 use. One part of the people has been 

 afraid that they would not be open 

 for use and the other has been fearful 

 that they would be. Both of these 

 notions sprung from the old ideas of 

 the forest preserve where trees stood 

 inviolate. Some wanted that idea con- 

 tinued and others did not. 



Perhaps it may be said that the 

 policy of the Forest Service lies be- 

 tween the two. In the administration 



of the forest reserves, now the chief 

 work and the logical work of the ser- 

 vice, stress is laid on the fact that the 

 reserves are for use, under such re- 

 strictions as will continue their great- 

 est use to the greatest number of peo- 

 ple for all time. The Government does 

 not take the reserves away from the 

 people, but more truly gives the for- 

 est areas to them, and in addition takes 

 care of the gift in such a way that it 

 grows in value year by year ; becom- 

 ing the bankers of the people to whom 

 the people entrust their forest wealth, 

 not that the bank may prosper, but 

 that the people's fund of timber may 

 grow and pay the highest possible in- 

 terest in forest products, whether those 

 products be building materials, rail- 

 road ties, mine props, a conserved wa- 

 ter supply for city use or irrigation 

 purposes, or a sustained and regular 

 grazing ground for flocks and herds. 



The selfish misconception of the 

 forests, which has* been but faintly 

 hinted above, is the other great mis- 

 conception concerning forestry. It 

 naturally has less excuse than the 

 sentimental one, for it is a conscious 

 and deliberate opposition based upon 

 a desire to obtain for a few the privi- 

 leges which the forests should hold 

 out to the many. It is perhaps un- 

 necessary to go into any details of 

 this attitude, for the whole history of 

 our public lands has been replete with 

 them. It is sufficient to say that those 

 who see in the Government's attitude 

 of a full use of the forest crops some 

 elements to disquiet them, would see 

 far more if the forests were wholly in 

 the hands of some of the individuals 

 who would exploit the timber lands for 

 present purposes only. 



Yet, in conclusion it may be said 

 that those who are working for the 

 proper administration of the forests 

 of the United States, public and pri- 

 vate, are vastly encouraged by the 

 growing signs of a rational under- 

 standing of what forestry means, and 

 an equal relinguishing of some of the 

 older misconceptions. Organizations 

 of public spirited men and women 

 every where are literally "holding up 



