550 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



December 



obvious that any climatic influences 

 which forests may exert must depend 

 upon the extension of the forests over 

 very large areas. A slight acquaint- 

 ance with the laws of meteorology suf- 

 fices to show this. In view of the ex- 

 tended area of the United States, is it 

 not within the bounds of possibiilty 

 that observation and historic research- 

 es, supplemented by well-planned in- 

 vestigations, may lead to results in this 

 country which were not to be expected 

 within the narrow boundaries of Eu- 

 ropean states, results showing that for 

 large regions the soil-cover, and con- 

 sequently the forest most of all among 

 the various sorts of soil-cover, is not 

 without its measurable influence on 

 the total distribution of moisture, on 

 wind currents, on mean and extreme 

 temperatures, in short, on the charac- 

 teristic conditions of heat and atmos- 

 phere which, together with geographic 

 location, constitute climate? 



A rich field for investigation lies in 

 wood utilization. This fact is already 

 keenly appreciated, and manufacturers 

 of lumber and wood products are most 

 desirous of learning all there is to learn 

 about the strength of our commercial 

 woods and the best ways of handling 

 them, and about the economies which 

 can be effected in manufacture and 

 construction work. They have ex- 

 pressed an urgent desire to see inves- 

 tigations of this character pressed by 

 the Forest Service. The timber tests 

 already completed and now being car- 

 ried on by the Service, though as ex- 

 tensive as funds and facilities permit, 

 cannot begin to supply the full facts 

 which wood users of all classes are 

 calling for. They suffice to show, how- 

 ever, that very much is to be expected 

 from more exhaustive tests. 



It is vain to hope for a slackening 



in the demand for the better timbers, 

 and equally vain to count on finding a 

 supply indefinitely. The severest econ- 

 omy is therefore urgent, and this can 

 be safe only when the true strength of 

 the desired woods is known. Where 

 the end of supply is plainly in sight it 

 is necessary, if possible, to draw upon 

 little used woods as substitutes, and 

 the less a given wood has been used 

 the greater, naturally, is our lack and 

 need of knowledge regarding it. All 

 investigations leading to saving and 

 substitution will prove of priceless 

 value when we begin to enter, as soon 

 we must, the period of scarcity that is 

 to intervene between the exhaustion 

 of our prime virgin timber and the 

 coming to merchantable size of the 

 second growth, for which our exces- 

 sive early cutting has prepared the way 

 so ill. 



The suggestion of some of the novel 

 and useful data which this country 

 may be destined to contribute to the 

 science of forestry naturally leads to 

 the subject of the benefits which are 

 assured on both sides of the Atlantic 

 through the affiliation of the United 

 States with European countries in the 

 International Association of Forest 

 Experiment Stations, noted elsewhere 

 in this issue. Each of the lines of in- 

 vestigation just mentioned will be 

 greatly furthered by the increased mu- 

 tual exchange of knowledge and criti- 

 cism between American and European 

 foresters. With this step, the field of 

 investigation has become practically 

 world-wide ; whatever is undertaken 

 here, whatever is undertaken abroad, 

 all forest science will have a share in 

 the glory and all forest practice, di- 

 rectly or indirectly, a share in the 

 benefit. 



