300 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



new idea of "conservation," but to even credit the term or phrase as covering 

 every phase of new endeavor. 



It is not my purpose to lessen the glory one whit, or bedim a single gem in the 

 crown of the national phrase "Conservation of natural resources," nor could I 

 were it to be tried, for the heralded motto has already stamped itself firmly upon 

 the nation. 



As time goes on, however, it will be found that our popular phrase will not 

 carry with it the whole panacea of overcoming our wasteful and depleting con- 

 ditions, and that new and equally applicable terms, though perhaps never so 

 popular, will come to express more aptly our real needs. 



To my mind the phrase "Restoration of natural resources" vies with that of 

 "Conservation of natural resources," and expresses a force to be aroused in the 

 nation for good that in many •s^ays surpasses the present popular one. 



We have our forest reserves and minerals that are left, and now to conserve 

 them economically is a worthy undertaking, but in the older sections of the nation 

 to conserve what we have in depleted and worn-out lands and forests is to pick 

 the bones of the withered and shrunken carcass. 



Let conservation apply where it may, but the force that is needed in Massa- 

 chusetts and all of New England, yea, the south, extending even well into the 

 middle of the nation, following the great depleting agricultural cereal and cotton 

 crops on the one hand, and the lumberman's axe and forest fires on the other, is 

 greater than this term can begin to express. 



The terra "Restoration of natural resources" I claim meets our present needs 

 far better and breathes greater hope and definite accomplishments for our chil- 

 dren's children in the future. 



Forestry, although it is an agricultural crop and must have greater 

 consideration in the future, has not received the attention it deserves un- 

 til practically the present time. Forest products have been relatively 

 abundant and cheap in nearly all sections of the nation. Suddenly our 

 needs began to outstrip the supply, and then with advancing prices lum- 

 bermen and the public generally have gradually awakened to the necessity 

 of providing for our present and future needs. We find that it is not only 

 a question of harvesting the crop from now on, but one of growing it. 

 There has been little demand for educated foresters in the past as the un- 

 dertakings were mainly those of economic methods of lumbering. 



Saw logs in the early days were 16 inches or more in diameter, while 

 to-day with us in New England lumbermen consider the 5-inch saw log of 

 equivalent value. Box boards, usually cut from white pine, regardless of 

 size of the log or gnarliness of the tree, with wany edges and the bark still 

 adhering, bring more money to-day than did square-edge, clean, clear 

 stock not many years ago. A prominent Boston timber cruiser who has 

 spent the past few years throughout the south called at my office within 

 ten days, and his version of the depletion of the natural forest products 

 of that section was really amazing. 



To my mind there are few subjects wherein the organizations repre- 

 sented at this association need to participate more actively than that of 

 forestry. Just because there has not been a definite demand and ap- 

 parent need until now is not an excuse for present lethargy. 



The older members of this association can well remember the earnest 

 and farsighted appeal made to this body by the late Samuel B. Green of 



