38 MISC. PUBLICATION 162, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 



are authorized to grow and sell planting stock to farmers for the 

 purpose of establishing windbreaks and farm woodlands upon de- 

 nuded or nonforested lands. The Forest Service is also ready to 

 give information to those interested in tree planting. 



The vast extent of its forests has helped to make the United States 

 the great industrial Nation it is today, but improvident and unregu- 

 lated exploitation has made inroads upon this source of prosperity. 

 We still cut our forest trees faster than we grow them. If this 

 continúes indefinitely, it will mean that eventually there will be a 

 shortage of wood and other forest produets. As forests will always 

 be necessary to both the economic and social life of this country, they 

 can never cease to play an important part in the American picture, 

 because no other agent can replace them as sources of industrial 

 wealth, conservators of water and soil, as recreation grounds, and the 

 home of wildlife and game. It will, therefore, always be essential 

 that the people of the United States maintain a forest growth sufficient 

 to meet the demands of the various forms of forest use. To do this, 

 our remaining forests must be used wisely; we must have adequate 

 fire control for forest lands, and wherever necessary, denuded lands 

 must be planted to trees. Only in this way may we expect to preserve 

 for all time an adequate portion of that forest wealth which has had 

 such a vital influence in shaping the destiny of the Nation. 



