36 MISC. PUBLICATION 162, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
duction of the raw materials necessary for the continuance of their 
operations. 
That some degree of forest culture be given the forest lands in 
private ownership is of prime importance to the welfare of this 
country. Some of our choicest forest areas are included in the vast 
timber holdings of private companies and individuals. Numerous 
industries and even communities are dependent upon them for 
existence. Forest lands in private ownership produce most of our 
lumber and forest products. 
The big question in the handling of all private 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 products 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 private 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 private forest lands may therefore prove a hability to 
their own rather than an asset. Such lands require a system of 
taxation whereby the private 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 private 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-fire 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 enactment 
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 principles 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 area, 
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 
