Show OUR FOREST A lotary wallace talked recently i tho the city club of cincinnati speaking of the agricultural esclon and what has baa been done 0 o rol relieve it during the past eighteen months and also telling of somo some of diio 0 work W rk of the department of agriculture referring to the th a manner in which the forests are administered ho be said saia timber la Is a crop one of our most moat important crops it grows ripens and becomes ready tor for the tha harvest just as other agricultural crops it should bo be harvested bar vested in season and another crop grown tor for tho the uso use of future generations it must bo be protected from fires from plant diseases from insect pests just as other agricultural ri crops aro are protected that requires the services of the horticulturist of the entomologist or of the plant pathologist and ot of the forest specialist all of these mon men being specially trained la in their own lines working together la in tho the closest cooperation originally it la is estimated that tho the virgin forests of tho the united states covered about abou 8 2 2000 poO 00 jacopa aano acno of these virgin forests thero there now remain about acres of the remainder it la Is estimated that acres have been replaced by farm land towns etc acres are carrying second growth timber much of it interior inferior in ity acres acrea Is idle land devastated and growing nothing worth while our wood consumption year Is estimated at cuble cubic feet our annual growth of timber Is estimated at cubic feet in other words the people ot of the united states aro are now consuming every year or permitting to be destroyed moro more than four times as much wood as Is being grown most of our virgin forests now lie to the tar far northwest the increase in freight alone in recent years amounts to almost as much as our total lumber bill not a great many years ago as time is measured in the life of d a nation por for many years our forests were treated as it if they belonged only to tile the present generation thoy they were t without regard to future needs r I 1 ut tit for the personal profit of those individuals who managed to got get hold of them now wo we have come coma to see that the conservation and ama of our forests Is one of the greatest of our national problems and this whether the forests belong to the government or to the individual the government forests comprise some acres somo some people seem to have bavo tho the notion that there forests should ie be administered simply on the theory of disposing of the timber after the manner in which private forests have been administered the of agriculture looks upon the matter very differently our notion Is that timber should bo be harvested as it Is needed but in such auch a way that other trees will grow to be harvested harve in the future wo we protect the forests from fire wo we regulate the cutting in such a way as aa to insure now growth we replant we aro are trying to increase tile the value of tile the grazing 1 ind id within the forest areas our entomologists protect the trees from insect pests some of which aro are very serious sori oua our plant show us how to prevent and emo eradicate licate tree dis diseases eues our study the grasses and forage plants and show us how to grow better our stockmen stoc kmen work with the forest rangers in administering and imp improving ahe he grazing land wo we have a forest products laboratory tit at which wo we study the various uses of timber how to conservo conserve its use in commerce and industry and how to use timber which has heretofore been regarded as aa worthless wo we are arc establishing forest experiment stations in different forests areas at which w aich the various problems pro blema ot of conservation cons er growth protection and utilization are being studied by highly specialized spec men while the administration of tho the forests Is under what we r call all tho the forest service it Is assisted by no less than eight other bureaus in the department of agriculture th abo dur baus of at plant industry ot of animal industry of public roads of soils i of Entomology the weather Du bureau aich Is most helpful in ft fire coar control 1 the biological survoy survey which aid alda in destroying predatory animals within the forests and the extension service bervice which teaches and administers better forestry methods on 20 ai 0 0 jhoo acres acrea of farm woodlots wood lota lots twenty million acres acrea ot of our national forests are in alaska these thesa forests contain billions ot of foot ot of tim lor bor especially suitable for paper man we are a encouraging the bu ling of paper mills there under regu regulations fattens which will make possible tho the perpetual supply ot of P pulpwood needed tor for each mill the relations between tho the de da part mont ment ot of agriculture through its forest service and the owners ot at private timber lands are MO most st harmonious mo mon lous more difore and more ot of the private owners are arc coming to sea eo that they need the sort ot of scientific 1110 help department ran can furnish turn lah will which ch the r more lora and more D ot f them are adopting policies of tire lire t the he departments pro protection lection tec tion insect and disease control and cutting in such buell a way as to provide tor for renow renewed ed growth conservation and tho the protection forests is one ot of tha 1116 grow growth th ot of our greatest greate Eit ot of our agri agricultural cultura I 1 problems |