l8 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



calling only for the ameliorative functions of the 

 government. But while this condition prevails 

 when the soil is put to agricultural use, it does not 

 exist as long as the soil is not so utilized. By the 

 withdrawal of large sections of land from such 

 use, society is harmed, and deprived of the benefit 

 which it would derive from the use of its property. 

 The proper disposal and the appropriation of the 

 soil to proper use form, therefore, fit functions of 

 government control. 



The rational appropriation of soil for either 

 farm use, pasturage, or timber production, one 

 would think, could be left to the regulation of 

 private intelligence ; yet the fact is, that the thin, 

 rocky soils of mountain districts are worked for a 

 scanty agricultural crop, when they should be left 

 to timber ; while thousands of acres in fertile val- 

 leys are still under the shade of virgin forests. 



Water and climate are the accessories to agri- 

 cultural production, and supplement the resources 

 of the soil. Not objects of private enterprise 

 directly, except in a limited manner, it is evident 

 that, as far as they or the conditions which influ- 

 ence them can be at all controlled, they should be 

 under the direct control of the state. A rational 

 management of the water capital of the world in 

 connection with agricultural use of the soil will 

 become the economic problem of the highest im- 

 portance as the necessity for increased food pro- 

 duction calls for intensive methods. And in 



