INTRODUCTION XXV 



net revenue earned by forest production, subject to the development of 

 the use of land for other purposes. 



(9) As a new country with vast timber resources develops industrially 

 the per capita consumption may show a decline as a result of the use of 

 other materials for construction; there is, however, a certain limit beyond 

 which consumption cannot fall without serious economic handicaps. The 

 tendency of modern commercial progress is to create new uses for woods 

 which overbalance substitution and other factors checking consumption. 

 Similarly, with more intensive settlement, forests for recreational uses 

 become more and more essential to national efficiency and health, 



(10) The milder the climate (in the temperate zone) the more rapid is 

 forest production, and consequently the shorter is the time required to 

 grow forest crops on soils of similar capacity. Therefore, large areas in 

 the United States are admirably adapted to forest production. 



(11) No nation has learned and taken to heart the benefits of forestry 

 without first experiencing economic shortage, disasters from floods, 

 erosion, over-grazing, and other adverse results of forest devastation. 



The conclusion is inevitable that the public is the ideal long-term forest 

 owner because it can take a part of its profits in indirect benefits; there- 

 fore, a very much larger proportion of the forests of the United States 

 should be owned and managed by the Federal, State, and local govern- 

 ments. Where the private-forest owner uses his property so as to damage 

 the interests of others he must be restrained by wise laws, properly ad- 

 ministered and enforced, but the success of mandatory forestry on private 

 lands held solely for direct profits is very doubtful, unless there is State 

 cooperation. 

 According to Marcel Prevost of the French Academy: 

 " The trees of France must be protected. Precisely because the tree lasts so much 

 longer than the human life, it should not belong absolutely to the man who is the nomi- 

 nal owner. It should become a part of the communal inheritance. Society has a right 

 to exercise a 'surveillance ' over the owners of trees. . . . God knows I do not favor 

 any intrusion into private affairs by the State ! Nevertheless, if I were a legislator I 

 would vote for a law which would forbid the whimsical felling of high forest trees, and 

 which would require every Frenchman to set out at least two trees during his life or to 

 pay for having them planted." 



What better exhortation could there be as an introduction to French 

 forestry, since its inherent characteristic is "Sacrifice of present benefits 

 for the future generation." As Boppe put it, "Silviculture is a science 

 relating to the phenomena of the development of the average forest and 

 the art of cutting it without hindering its physiological requirements." 

 The French forester does not wish to disturb Nature's equilibrium. His 

 work is in the forest rather than on paper. If I have correctly portrayed 

 the spirit of the French forester I shall be satisfied. 



This study is based upon a three-months' trip through French forests in 



