BOOKS ON FORESTRY 



THE movement to study and pre- 

 serve our forest trees instigated 

 within the past few years has 

 stirred up more than usual interest, not 

 only among those whose business inter- 

 ests are concerned, but among the 

 American people at large. Forestry 

 to-day is the most important considera- 

 tion in the general plan of conserving 

 our national resource-. To care for 

 the vast timber tract- and to reforest 

 the thousands of acres bared by former 

 mismanagement is the pppu-rd work 

 that will bring greater results than any 

 other national effort ever made in our 

 country. And an issue of this sort 

 gives rise to the usual literary danger- 

 a multiplicity of books <>tYering little 

 practical return for the price paid for 

 them. 



When a book on trees is advertised it 

 usually finds a ready market. And as 

 such publications entail illustrating nec- 

 cssarily expensive, the cost per volume 

 is much above that of the average book. 

 And many of these bonk- are very dis- 

 appointing. One recently published, 

 with a very seductive title, generalizes 

 to such a liberal extent that Cinlc^i' 

 and Southern Yellow Pine are intro- 

 duced as representative conifers. In 

 a way, this is true : but put in this man- 

 ner, the truth is misleading. The 

 Ginkgo is a geological curiosity and ha- 

 a romantic story ; but the long-leaf 

 pine of the South mean- millions of 

 dollars annually. This little book men- 

 tions eight species of pine (two of these 

 being exotic) and there are thirty-nine 

 ' 664 



species of commercial value in the 

 Tinted States. And I did not see a 

 single species of the many Western 

 oaks described in its pages. Clearly a 

 book of this kind means little to the 

 real forest student. What he requires 

 is a book covering these topics : 



1. A list of our forest trees. 



2. Botanical descriptions. 



3. The definite locality of trees listed. 



4. A statement of their value. 



And with the last consideration 

 comes the outlook that concerns us as 

 a nation : Investigating sylvical con- 

 ditions. Are our forests sufficiently 

 studied, cared for, and preserved? Can 

 waste tracts be reforested? The very 

 nature of underbrush and shrubs, and 

 even weeds and grasses, often help and 

 -nggcst. or seriously hinder reforesta- 

 tion. The writer on subjects pertain- 

 ing to forestry must be a broadly edu- 

 cated teacher. He must know that ele- 

 mentary training in any field should be 

 -liarply accurate, and very much to the 

 point if successful instruction is sought. 

 And it must be persistently borne in 

 mind that long before the tree becomes 

 timber it i:- a plant. The tree is cause: 

 the nicety of the lumberman's calcula- 

 tion, the rise and fall of prices, the 

 Nation's tremendous utilization of for- 

 e-t produce, is result. 



It might therefore be suggested to all 

 who would promote the study of for- 

 estry (and the study should be pro- 

 moted even in our primary schools), to 

 write, to recommend, and to buy books 

 on the subject with care. 



