FOREWORD 



FORESTERS and lumbermen having long desired an investigation of vari- 

 ous phases of forestry and lumbering problems, by committees of com- 

 petent men, it became apparent, when the Fourth National Conservation 

 Congress was in session at Indianapolis in 1912, that such investigation was 

 part of the work of any organization encouraging forest conservation. 



Accordingly, at that time, members of the American Forestry Association 

 together with lumbermen and others interested, all being delegates to the Con- 

 servation Congress, discussed measures for doing the work and raising the funds 

 necessary for it. 



The outcome was the appointment by Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack, after 

 he had been elected president of the Congress, of a Forestry Committee com- 

 posed of four directors and one vice president of the American Forestry Asso- 

 ciation, with Mr. Pack, also a director of the Association, as a member ex-officio. 

 The committee appointed ten sub-committees, topics were assigned to them, and 

 after several thousand dollars had been subscribed for carrying on the work the 

 investigations started. 



The subscribers to the fund were Mr. Charles Lathrop Pack, W. R. Brown, 

 of Berlin, N. H. ; Lehigh University Forestry Fund through Dr. Henry S. 

 Drinker; Capt. J. B. White, of Kansas City, Mo.; and Robt. P. Bass, of New 

 Hampshire. 



Having selected the sub-committees with great care, choosing both theo- 

 retical and practical experts, and enthusing them with the earnest desire to 

 secure the best information possible and compile the most valuable report on 

 each subject assigned that had ever been made, the Forestry Committee pushed 

 the work along so vigorously that when the Fifth National Conservation Con- 

 gress convened in Washington, D. C, on November 18, 1913, for a three-day 

 session, the report of each committee was ready in pamphlet form, for distribution 

 and discussion. 



Every man present at the forestry section meeting of the Congress when 

 these reports were made and discussed was impressed with the great value of 

 the work which had been done, and particularly with the necessity of continuing 

 it in the future. Several of the committees reported upon only one phase of 

 the forestry and lumbering problem submitted; other phases equally important 

 still need similar investigations, and reports upon them will be of equal value. 

 Each year new problems arise, each year a thorough study and recommendations 

 upon existing conditions will be of a value difficult to calculate. The work 

 should go on, year after year. Each year there should be a great gathering of 

 foresters and lumbermen to hear reports of their committees and to exchange 

 opinions. There are forestry associations and lumbermen's organizations and 

 what is now needed is a gathering of the men interested in each in order to 

 work out, as far as their knowledge and ability goes, the problems of forest 

 conservation. There should be closer relations between foresters, lumbermen 



