4 BULLETIN 1491, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
At the same time it is hoped that they will have a value for the every- 
day reader who is interested in forestry as an important phase of 
land use in the United States and in the public policies designed to 
bring forestry about. 
It is impossible for publications necessarily dealing in broad 
terms with the conditions existing over large regions to attempt any 
brass-tack conclusions on the cost and returns of timber growing. 
The approximate cost of the measures advocated is indicated as far 
as practicable, and the extent to which they may be of benefit in con- 
nection with logging operations, hut with no attempt to segregate 
the items chargeable to harvesting one crop of timber from those 
which should be regarded as invested in a following crop. Con- 
servative estimates of the future yields of timber that may be ex- 
pected under the various practices recommended are given where 
the facts available appear to warrant them; but no forecasts of the 
profits to be derived from commercial reforestation are attempted. 
The financial aspects of forestry can not be dealt with in general 
terms. Here again expert advice must deal with the situation and 
with the problems of the individual forest owner or manufacturer. 
As a broad conclusion, however, with the exception of limited 
situations which are dealt with region by region, the Forest Service 
has tremendous faith in the commercial promise of timber growing 
to American landowners. The law of supply and demand is working 
steadily to create timber values which in large portions of the United 
States will pay fair returns on forestry as a business. The eco- 
nomic history of other countries which have passed through a cycle 
of virgin forest depletion similar to that which the United States 
is now traversing points to the same inevitable conclusion. The 
time is fast approaching when forestry, and forestry alone, will 
supply the enormous quantities of wood demanded by American 
markets. The fundamental laws of business must in the nature of 
things so operate as to enable the markets of forest products to be 
supplied at a profit to the grower of timber. The returns already 
being obtained from this form of land employment at many points 
in the eastern United States show plainly enough that this rela- 
tionship between the value of timber and the cost of producing it 
is already coming about to a marked degree. 
To the men who own forest-producing land in the United States 
or who are engaged in industries which require timber as raw mate- 
rial, forestry now offers a commercial opportunity. Satisfactory 
returns from forestry can not be promised in sweeping terms any 
more than returns from the manufacture of lumber or paper. But 
the opportunity for a profitable employment of capital and business 
talent in the growing of timber merits the same consideration and 
the same expert guidance as industrial opportunities in the conver- 
sion of timber. This applies with special force to the commercial 
institutions in the United States which have made large capital 
investments in manufacturing plants and distributing organizations, 
dependent for their maintenance upon a future supply of forest- 
grown material. It applies equally to the owners of land, in large 
tracts or farm wood lots, the earning capacity of which lies solely in 
the growing of trees and which, without tree growth, will become 
either a doubtful asset or an outright liability. 
