4 BULLETIN 1402, V. S. DEPAETMEI^T OF AGEICULTUEE 
lumberman rather than for the technical forester. Their purpose is 
to put the main ideas into the most useful form, considering the 
special needs and problems of each region, for aiding the man to 
whom timber growing is a concrete business and logging problem. 
At the same time it is hoped that they will have 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 
jDracticable, with the extent to which they may be of benefit in con- 
nection with logging operations but 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. Conserva- 
tive 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 fin- 
ancial 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 situ- 
ations 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 economic 
history af 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 relationship 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 material, 
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 conversion 
of timber. This applies with special force to the commercial insti- 
tutions in the United States which have made large capital invest- 
ments in manufacturing plants and distributing organizations, de- 
pendent for their maintenance upon a future supply of forest-grown 
material. It applies equally to the owners of land, in large tracts or 
