a 
4. «BULLETIN 1493, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE _- 
the man to whom timber growing is a concrete business and legging 
problem. At the same time it is hoped that they will have a value 
for the everyday 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 connection with loggmg operations, but with no attempt to segre- 
gate the items chargeable to harvesting one crop of timber from 
those which should be regarded as invested in a following crop. 
Conservative estimates of the future yields of timber that may be 
expected 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 im large portions of the United 
States will pay fair returns on forestry as a busmess. ‘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 cf wood demanded by American 
markets. The fundamental laws of busmess 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 pleinly enough that this relation- 
ship 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 es raw mate- 
rial, forestry now offers a commercial opportunity. Satisfactery 
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 empioyment of capital and business 
talent in the growing of timber merits the same consideration and 
the same expert guidance es industrial opportunities in the con- 
version of timber. ‘This applies with special force to the com- 
mercial institutions in the United States which have made large 
capital investments in manufacturing plants and distributing organi- 
zations, 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, withgut tree growth, will 
become either a doubtful asset or an outright liability. 
