headwaters of streams, the demands for saving wild life, and the playground possibilities of our forests justify their extension.  Approximately eighty per cent of the American forests are now privately owned.  The chances are that most of these wooded tracts will always remain in the hands of private owners.  It is important that the production of these forests be kept up without injuring their future value.  We must prepare for the lumber demands of many years from now.

Some method must be worked out of harnessing our idle forest lands and putting them to work growing timber.  Any regulations that are imposed on the private owners of woodlands must be reasonable.  Changes in our present methods of taxing timberlands must be made to encourage reforestation.  The public must aid the private individuals in fighting forest fires, the greatest menace that modern forestry has to face.  A national policy is needed which will permit the private owner to grow trees which will give him fair and reasonable profit when sold.

The farmers of this country use about one-half of all the lumber consumed annually.  They own approximately 191,000,000 acres of timber in their farm woodlots.  If farmers would devote a little time and labor to the permanent upkeep and improvement of their timber, they would aid in decreasing the danger of a future lumber famine.  If they would but keep track of the acreage production of their woodlands as closely as they do of their corn and wheat crops, American forestry would benefit greatly.

Between 1908 and 1913, the U.S.  Forest Service established two forest experiment stations in California and one each in Washington, Idaho, Colorado, and Arizona.  They devote the same degree of science and skill to the solution of tree growing and lumbering problems as the agricultural experiment stations give to questions of farm and crop management.  Despite the fact that these forestry stations did fine work for the sections that they served, recently a number of them had to close, due to lack of funds.  Congress does not yet realize the importance of this work.

More forest experiment stations are needed throughout the country.  Such problems as what kinds of trees are best to grow, must be solved.  Of the 495 species of trees in this country, 125 are important commercially.  They all differ in their histories, characteristics and requirements.  Research and study should be made of these trees in the sections where they grow best.  Our knowledge regarding tree planting and the peculiarities of the different species is, as yet, very meagre.  We must discover the best methods of cutting trees and of disposing of the slash.  We must investigate rates of growth, yields and other problems of forest management.  We must study the effect of climate on forest fires.  We must continue experiments in order to develop better systems of fire protection.