35^ Proceedings of the 



beginning recognized as purely temporary in its char- 

 acter. To postpone it until the private forester was in 

 the field would have meant that the better use of our 

 forests would have been for a long time delayed. The 

 area in woodlots and timber tracts in this country is 

 approximately five hundred million acres. It is from 

 them that our future timber supply must chiefly come. 

 And the inauguration of better methods in their man- 

 agement is thus a national duty until the private 

 forester is present in sufficient numbers to carry the 

 work. When that time comes, the Bureau will step 

 aside. As a matter of fact, the Bureau has by its 

 cooperative work not only instituted better methods 

 in the use of the forest, but it has hastened, by making 

 clear the business advantages of these methods, the 

 growth of forestry as a commercial enterprise, and 

 hence the employment of the private forester. And 

 right there it is significant that, with very few excep- 

 tions, the private foresters employed in this country 

 to-day owe their work either to the recommendation 

 of the Bureau of Forestry or as the direct result of its 

 cooperative work. 



The second line of endeavor which it is the duty of 

 the Bureau of Forestry to follow is that of independent 

 investigation. This embraces the solution of those 

 urgent forest problems which are beyond the scope, 

 the means, or the trained knowledge of the individual, 

 but which confront him, and through him materially 

 afifect the development of the great industries. Just 

 as it is the duty of the Government through the United 

 States Geological Survey to map this country, so is it 

 also the duty of the Government through the Bureau 

 of Forestry to put in the hands of the people knowledge 

 essential to the best use of the forest, and as unobtain- 

 able through private enterprise only as are the maps. 



