36 MISC. PUBLICATIOX 162, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTUEE 



duction of the raw materials necessary for tlie continuance of their 

 operations. 



That some degree of forest culture be given the forest lands in 

 prívate ownership is of prime importance to the welfare of this 

 country. Some of our choicest forest áreas are included in the vast 

 timber holdings of prívate companies and individuáis. Xumerous 

 industries and even communities are dependent upon them for 

 existence. Forest lands in prívate ownership produce most of our 

 lumber and forest producís. 



The big question in the handling of all prívate forest lands is. of 

 course, "will forestry pay?"' Many believe that it will, under good 

 average conditions of climate or soil, and accessibility to markets. 

 A number of lumber and logging companies, pulp and paper con- 

 cerns, coal companies. railroads, and other users of wood in large 

 quantities, are instituting measures that, to some extent at least, 

 look to the growing of their own forest producís as a continuing 

 crop. A number of them employ trained foresters to handle their 

 forest lands, and some are artificially reforesting lands which have 

 become denuded. 



Two barriers to the success of prívate timber growing are high 

 taxes and forest fires. The forest crop requires a longer period to 

 reach maturity than other plant crops ; and under ordinary systems 

 of taxation prívate forest lands may therefore prove a liability to 

 their own rather than an asset. Such lands require a system of 

 taxation whereby the prívate owner may carry a fair share of the 

 tax burden and at the same time realize an adequate profit on his 

 long-term investment. Some States, realizing this, have revised 

 their forest -tax laws in recent years. 



Fire probably forms the greatest risk the prívate timber grower 

 has to take, for within a short space of time it can eat up the profits 

 derived from years of growth. Some private owners have estab- 

 lished systems of fire suppression on their timber holdings which 

 work more or less satisfactorily. Adequate forest-flre control, how- 

 ever, is possible only through the cooperation of all agencies inter- 

 ested in forest protection, namely, the Federal Government, the 

 States, and the private owner. To make possible cooperation be- 

 tween all of these agencies was one of the reasons for the enaetment 

 of the Clarke-McNary Act, 



The practice of commercial forestry will no doubt increase as 

 the natural-growth forests become scarcer. Research carried on by 

 the Forest Service and other forest agencies is constantly adding 

 to the knowledge required to apply sound principies of foresty prof- 

 itable to privately owned timberlands. 



TIMBER, A VITAL NATIONAL RESOURCE 



The forest, unlike many other natural resources, can be renewed 

 after the original supply has been consumed. When given a chance, 

 nature herself can take care of the renewal. Seed trees judiciously 

 left after cutting will provide for the reseeding of a lumbered área, 

 and if fire is kept out the forest will come back. But when the 

 forest is totally destroyed. the land, which in many cases is not 

 suited to agricultural crops, lies idle. There are millions of acres 



