131 
Regard for Future 
Forestry is a long term investment and this is the main reason 
why it usually can be practiced only by organized government. 
A forester must necessarily have vision and must see far ahead 
into the future. He cannot think merely in years and deal only 
with the present. He must think in centuries which conform 
more closely to age. of the trees composing the forest he deals 
with. 
It is high time now to consider the future needs of our fair city 
and of its unborn population. Our heritage to them must not 
be diminished, and it is incumbent on us now to improve condi- 
tions so that there will be an improvement instead of a degres- 
sion when our term of responsibility is over. 
I fail to agree with those pessimists who throw up their hands 
in despair and say ''you cannot spoil a rotten egg." Anything 
we can do now in the way of guarding the purity of the water 
and improving the forest cover on this watershed, it is our 
bounden duty to accomplish. 
Forest Protection 
Conditions on the steep mountain slopes at the head of Palolo 
and Manoa Valleys, embraced by Rule V, are not naturally 
favorable for tree growth and the forest there leads a very pre- 
carious existence. The mountain slopes are subject to frequent 
landslides which carry away the tree growth in wide swaths. 
These scars are soon reclothed with vegetation, to be sure, but 
in the early stages only with low forms of plant growth. While 
these scars are seemingly grown over and disappear before the 
eye, their new covering is not satisfactory for water conservation 
purposes, for it does not contain the tree element. 0*n such situ- 
ations a good deal is asked of tree growth, for the seedlings must 
start in extremely shallow soil on a steep gradient often exposed 
to severe winds. The establishment of a forest here is hampered 
by a severe handicap, not realized by many, and it requires at least 
a hundred yea^s for a tree to reach maturity. It is a wonder 
that any forest at all can grow or maintain itself under such 
conditions, and when the extra burden of fighting against an 
aggressive introduced plant is imposed on the forest, we have a 
situation that is alarming and that requires all the feeble assist- 
ance that man is able to render. 
HiLo Grass 
Anything that can be done to ease the burden of life in this 
forest, which is severe enough under ordinary conditions, must 
be done if the forest is to be maintained. Human assistance in 
this struggle is small enough, to be sure, but possible to a limited 
extent. This assistance may be rendered directly by preventing 
