Dqiiiitions. The third kind of forestry rests upon a purely com mercial basis, just as farming does. It is in reality a department of the great fundamental art of Ayrien1 titre, which is the improving and mul tiplying of useful products of the soil. dlyhoricalture is a wider term than forestry, for it takes in tree culture anywhere and for any pur pose. as for example. the cultivation of fruit and ornamental trees. Fi•estry includes two branches. Si/ rietittn re, which is the growing of trees in forests, and Lmnberiny, which is the harvesting and marketing of wood crops. Dendrnlor/y, one of the sciences upon which the art of forestry is based, is chiefly the botany of trees, and is studied from three points of view. (1 ) The life processes of trees in health and disease, or plant physiology and pathology. (2) The minute structure of trees, which is Omit ariab.ny or histology. (3) The kinds of trees, which is sys tematic botany.
A ,peciiie Example. It is hard to think of trees as crops, because their growing period is so much longer than that of agricultural plants. Suppose. however, we have a tract of 811.0H) acres of land. We may divide it into SO squares of 1,1101) acres each. Suppose it takes SO years to ripen a crop of trees. Every year we may harvest the crop from one-eightieth of the area and replant it. These Oper ations will be on a scale large emiugh to employ a permanent force of men, and to justify the laying• of a railroad. is a crude example of the theory of rotation in economical forestry. practice, however, there are endless rinodifications The example serves to illus trate the two most important facts about forestry. (1) The forest crop requires a long time, a large scale of operations, and one continu ous policy of management. (2) For these reasons, forestry is essen tially a business for the government rather than for the individual.
,S7(ite ? There is a difference of opinion as to whether the state or national government should control in the management of large forest reserves. The old arguments come lip for and against state rights on the one hand find the centralizing of government on the other. The strongest reason for national rather than state admin istration of forest affairs is the fact that forests spread beyond state lines, and different policies in neighboring states would have disastrous results. Further, the policy of one state might have less effect within its own limits than upon neighborin• states. For instance, the strip ping of mountain slopes in North Carolina might do little damage there compared with the cumulative effect such deforestation would have in South Carolina and Georgia. on the lower courses of rivers rising in these mountains.
great forest should be treated as a unit. This is impossible if it extends across the boundaries of several states. each of which has a different forest Urri X(Itimmt Policy. The United States has laid the foundations
of a great national forest policy. Some years ago there was started through the Department of Agriculture an educational movement which waked up the country on the subject of the wastefulness of past and present himbering operations, the necessity for the checking of these excesses, and the adoption of a conservative policy. Since then the sense of the people has been expressed thro•h the public press and has borne fruit in legislation. Nearly fifty million acres of forest laud are now under government control.—set aside to be forested as soon as possible by scientific methods. A tract of two million acres located in the southern end of the Appalachian mountains will probably he bought by authority of the next session of Congress and established as a forest reserve and national park. As time goes on, other areas will be bought and forested by the national government. States, corporations and individuals owning forest lands are asking advice of the Bureau of Forestry on problems of management. The Bureau sends experts to study local conditions and to outline plans for permanent and profitable enterprises.
The Foresters Raining. The management of forests calls for judg ment and intelligence of a high order. If a farmer makes a mistake in the choice of a crop, he can correct it the next year. A crop of trees takes the lifetime of the man to bring to harvest. The forester cannot afford to make mistakes. He should know the soil lie has to deal with and the trees that will thrive best in it. Ile must stud- the lay of the laud. He must know trees, their habits and rate of growth: the insects and fungous diseases that menace them. He must know these subjects in general, and study Ids region in particular. lie must know what trees to plant together, for sonic valuable trees are best started under the shade of quick-growing nurse trees. Lie must under stand lumbering in all its details. A good forester is master of many sciences, a business man of tact and ability, a man of intelligence and conscience. devoted to Ins work.
The Outlook. By a judicious, forestry policy many of the abuses of the past years may he corrected. Trees grow. The slopes bared by forest fires, by over-grazing, or by destructive lumbering, may he reforested. Thus in time the natural regulation of the water-flow may be re-established. The beauty of wild woods will be restored if only nature is given a chance. Fish and game and birds wait only for a favorable opportunity to come again in numbers. Nature is of a forgiving temper. The ideal for forestry in America is for all the mountain sides to come into one harmonious scheme of forest management. The higher the price of lumber soars the nearer do we conic to the time when rational forestry will replace mere lumbering. On the whole. the outlook is distinctly hopeful.