A Decexnial Recokd 97 



essaiy legislation to go into this question of reproducing our forests 

 in an intelligent way. Unless Me do that we shall soon be out of 

 timber. 



Talk about reforesting the arid lands of the West I Now, fellow 

 citizens, I do not know all about that, but it does seem to me that a 

 section of the country or a land that never produced anything more 

 than a little scrub sugar pine will never i^roduce anything else. If the 

 country must wait for that kind of timber culture, I am afraid we will 

 find ourselves very much out of lumber in the future. That type of 

 land which does not produce an\i:hing left to itself, where natin-e 

 has not planted the seed and produced it, that is not going to do any- 

 thing under cultivation. It has no moisture, and there is nothing in 

 the soil that will make it grow. It is so in our own state. We have 

 sections here in Wisconsin that never raised good timber. There is 

 nothing substantial in the soil to support the tree. It raises scrub 

 stuff, scrub pine, Jack pine, and other pines of that variety. You 

 must wait 50 years for that. So we must make up oin- minds that we 

 must set aside soil that has substance enough in it to support a tree; 

 otherwise we cannot have it. 



I want to say in conclusion that I fully approve and have been 

 in great sympathy witli the work of tlie Forest Products Laboratory. 

 Its business has been to find new uses for timber that heretofore have 

 not been considered satisfactory for any particular use. It has ren- 

 dered a great service in that respect. It has also found many Avays to 

 use what was heretofore regarded as absolute waste around and about 

 the sawmill. It was high time that somebody devoted some time to 

 that, and in that respect whatever they have accomplished has been 

 of real use. 



We must conserve, if you please, everything there is in a tree 

 that can be used. You cannot throw away a six incli slab; you have 

 got to make some use of it. They say of the packer that he makes use 

 of every part of the hog excepting the squeal. We must make use of 

 every part of the tree excepting tlie noise it makes wlien it falls. There 

 must be a real spirit of conservation produced among our people; 

 they shoidd be able and willing to use everAi:hing tliat is usable. The 

 timber of today ought to be cut and used with reference to the use that 

 it is to be put to. We should under no circumstances be permitted to 

 use a good pine board, for instance, for a meat box that renders serv- 



