107 
TREES AS CROPS. 
The Secretary of Agriculture in the part of his annual report 
wherein he speaks of the National Forests, says : "It is as sure 
that forest land can be made to grow successive crops of trees 
under proper methods as that plow land can be made to grow suc- 
cessive crops of wheat." 
This country which once could boast of forest resources richer 
than any other nation in the world, has been cutting three times 
as much timber for a number of years as there is grown, and the 
consideration of timber as a crop to be carefully harvested has 
come at a time when many of the virgin forests are already de- 
pleted. Secretary Wilson, in continuing his subject, says in part: 
"Just as American farming has had to develop and is still de- 
veloping methods adapted to the conditions of each region to 
make the best use of the agricultural lands, so must the forester 
learn by scientific study and practical trial to make the best use 
of our timberland. And the best use means, of course, not merely 
its best use for the growing of trees, but its best use with refer- 
ence to all interests directly or indirectly affected by it. 
"As time passes, it will doubtless appear that the principles 
which centuries of experience in older countries have placed at our 
command' can be applied with increasing good results as we grow 
more familiar with our own special conditions. The issue is 
sharply between caring for our forests by applying a system of 
known efficiency, or suffering certain loss not only of the forests, 
but of usuable water and soil as well, through the operation of 
causes as certain to act as are the rivers to run to the sea." 
The Forest Service now has administration over more than 
164,000,000 acres of land. This is slightly more than one-fifth 
of the country's total forested area ; the remainder is in the hands 
of private owners. Nearly all the timberland of the unappro- 
priated public domain is now in the National Forests. This meaft? 
that is being protected against fire, theft, and wasteful exploita- 
tion, that its power to grow wood and store water is being safe- 
guarded for all time, and that nevertheless, its present supplv of 
useful material is open to immediate use whenever it is wanted. 
The report says : 
"The timber in the National Forests, which is the legacy of the 
growth of centuries, is now in the truest sense public property, 
administered for the benefit of the people, primarilv for the 
benefit of the people of the West, since they are nearest at 
hand, but on the whole, for the benefit of every part of the coun- 
try, since the welfare of every section is interwoven with that of 
all others. The communities and settlers adjacent to the forests 
are safe from any fear of monopoly of one of the chief necessities 
of civilized man." 
