40 MAN ON THE LANDSCAPE 



More plants are needed, in the restoration process. This is sufficient 

 reason for more plants. 



There is another reason. Numerous surveys have been made of 

 living standards in this country. Dr. Thomas Parran, Chief of the 

 U. S. Public Health Service has said, " Studies of family diets by the 

 Department of Agriculture, in all income groups of the nation, show 

 that one-third of our people are getting food inadequate to maintain 

 good health. . ." The Yearbook of Agriculture, 1939, (p. 42) says, 

 "Those who cannot now afford even an economical fair diet are 

 largely among those with incomes of less than $750 a year. These 

 income classes include 32 per cent of all the families and single 

 individuals in the country." During the war-induced and post-war 

 prosperity, many ate better temporarily, no doubt. 



Without going into a long series of quotations, may we summarize 

 the government's findings? If these submerged millions were to con- 

 sume a low-cost good diet, our production would need to be increased 

 thus: milk, 10 per cent; butter, 10 per cent; tomatoes and citrus, 10 

 per cent ; leafy, green and yellow vegetables, 80 per cent. This would 

 require an additional 8 to 10 million acres of cropland. If a really 

 good "expensive" diet were available to all of us, an additional 30 

 to 40 million acres would be needed. (There is a possibility that these 

 increases could be met by increased yields from present acreages.) 

 The surpluses which plagued farmers, before the war, would disap- 

 pear like frost in the sun. 



In other words, as a nation, we need more (and better) plants to 

 eat directly, or in the form of animal products. 



During World War II we produced more food than ever before, 2 

 and the people had money to buy it. Because we exported a small per 

 cent 3 to our allies, and later to enemy countries also, we experienced 

 shortages at home proof that our soils in their present condition are 

 not capable of supporting even a slightly larger population on a good 

 diet level. We cannot be complacent. 



Wood Products. Of all the influences which trees exert on our 

 national and individual lives, we are at the moment considering them x 



2 In 1944, the U. S. produced 20% more agricultural products than in 1940 

 (U.S.D.A., Bureau of Agricultural Economics). This increase, to a great extent, 

 offset (a) the loss of imports due to the war, (b) increased consumption, over 

 civilian rate, of food and fibre by the men and women of the armed forces, (c) 

 Lend-Lease and Eelief exports. 



3 The average for 1942-43-44-45 was roughly 8% export of our total agricul- 

 tural production, for Lend-Lease and United Nations Eelief and Eehabilitation 

 Administration uses. For several years before the war, the excess of our agricul- 

 tural exports over imports of the same types of goods ranged around 2%; in 1928 

 the excess was about 20%. The drop from 20% to 2% was gradual. No small 

 factor in the decline of normal agricultural exports has been our growth in 

 population. Cropland acreage has changed very little. Population is catching up 

 vrith food supply. 



