Introduction, 



That the source of our timber supply within a few generations 

 will be an acute and vital question is not a prophecy, but the 

 statement of a fact, easily deduced from the ever-increasing price 

 of lumber and the fast-vanishing forests. That the use of such 

 substitutes as fibre, steel, stone and cement will not solve the prob- 

 lem is also a fact that is not disputed. No apology is needed for 

 insisting that a question of such great economic importance should 

 engage the attention of both Federal and State governments. 

 There is hope in the vigorous efforts put forth by many of the 

 States and by the United States Forest Service to conserve our 

 forests, but their efforts should be made more vigorous and far- 

 reaching. 



It is much to the credit of Indiana that the question of our 

 future timber supply received official recognition about ten years 

 ago. At that time our legislators decided that the solution of the 

 problem was to be found in educating the people in timber culture 

 and in the management of their Avoodlots, three million acres of 

 which existed at that time. 



Accordingly, a State Board of Forestry was created and a for- 

 est experimental station of 2,000 acres was purchased on which to 

 demonstrate timber culture. Since that time much has been ac- 

 complished in changing public sentiment from a destructive to a 

 constructive management of our forests. The question has been 

 presented to the public through the press, public schools, farmers' 

 institutes, civic federations, women's clubs, etc., until now almost 

 everyone knows something about the forestry movement, and many 

 woodlot owners are practicing scientific forestry. The work at the 

 forest experimental station has been developed until it is, today, 

 the best demonstration of the growing of hardwoods in the United 

 States. 



The policy of the present board of forestry is a continuance 

 of that of its predecessors. The work of the past year has been 

 to develop the experiments in progress at the forest experimental 

 station and to forcibly present the forestry problem to land- 

 OAvners, and to the teachers and pupils of the public schools of 

 the State. The people should know how important it is to have 



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