2 9 4 ARBOR DAY 



But there are other ways to conserve the forests 

 besides cutting in half the present waste of forest 

 products. The forests can be made to produce three 

 or four times as rapidly as they do at present. This 

 is true of both the virgin forests and the cut-over 

 lands. Virgin forests are often fully stocked with 

 first-class timber, but this stock has been laid in very 

 slowly, on account of the wasteful competition which 

 is carried on constantly between the rival trees. 

 Then, too, in the virgin forest there are very many 

 trees which have reached maturity and stopped 

 growing, and these occupy space which, if held by 

 younger trees, would be laying in a new stock con- 

 stantly. As regards the cut-over land, severe cutting, 

 followed by fire, has checked growth so seriously that 

 in most cases reproduction is both poor and slow, 

 while in many other cases there is no true forest 

 reproduction at all at present, and there is but little 

 hope for the future. 



In addressing the Conference of Governors, the 

 Hon. William Jennings Bryan said: 



"No subject has been brought out more promi- 

 nently at this Conference than the subject of forestry, 

 and it justifies the time devoted to it, for our timber- 

 lands touch our national interests at several points. 

 Our use of lumber is enormous, but immense as 

 would be the inconvenience and loss caused by the 

 absence of lumber, the consequence of the destruc- 

 tion of our forests would be still more disastrous to 



