28 MISC. PUBLICATION 290, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



important forest types in the country are directed toward furnishing 

 the owner of timberland, whether farmer or lumberman, State or 

 Federal Government, information wherewith forest lands can be 

 brought to the point of producing the highest returns and maintain- 

 ing stabilized industrial communities. 



Forest-management research includes a wide variety of subjects. 

 How to obtain forest regeneration, artificial or natural, calls for 

 studies of seed production and germination, nursery and planting 



Figure 20.- 



-Forest officer using an increment borer for study of tree growth rate. 

 Ouachita National Forest, Ark. 



practice, and sprout and seedling growth. Genetics — for the develop- 

 ment of improved quality, growth rate, or other characters — is being 

 studied for forest trees just as it is by other agencies for livestock 

 and crop plants. Intensive studies are made of thinning practice, of 

 the growth rate of trees and stands, and of methods of harvesting 

 the forest to obtain the best natural reproduction. 



Research has an important place in forest-fire control. Planning 

 for fire suppression is aided by studies of forest-fuel inflammability, 

 weather conditions, and the development of fire-fighting equipment. 

 Apparatus for detecting forest fires under different conditions of 

 visibility is being devised or perfected. Fire damage, the recovery of 



