PREFACE TO FOURTH EDITION 



SINCE I wrote the preface to the Third Edition 

 twelve years ago, Forestry, as a profession, has 

 passed out of its atrophy to a period of national 

 activity and usefulness. The nation's call for an un- 

 limited supply of timber has resulted in the depletion 

 of vast areas of our limited forest lands. The lessons 

 to be learnt from this are manifold, and I hope they 

 may be treated so seriously and effectively as to 

 allay the natural anxiety as to future supplies of 

 timber. 



There is a call still for home-grown timber, and 

 this call will continue and grow greater; and it is 

 for the landowners to respond to this, and promptly, 

 as the demand is imperative. Foreign-grown timber 

 can no longer be placed upon our shores, as it has 

 been in the past, and the quality of even this supply 

 may not reach the standard we have been accustomed 

 to, not at least until new areas are tapped. 



The demand for timber for housing, and for almost 

 every commercial project, will grow with leaps and 

 bounds, and we, as a nation, cannot supply it. The 

 neglect of one of the primary productive industries 

 has been carried through centuries, and now we 

 experience the evils of this long apathy, 



There is but one road whereby we may reach the 



