of the neighboring mountain forests and to the activities of erosion.  Under ordinary conditions, natural reforestation will maintain a satisfactory tree growth on lands where a practical system of forest protection is practiced.  The complete removal of the forest is now accomplished only in fertile farming regions, where the agricultural value of the land is too high to permit it to remain longer in forest cover.  Even in the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes belts there are still large areas of forest land.  Most of the farms have woodlots which provide fuel, fencing, and some lumber.  For the most part, these farm woodlots are abused.  They have not been managed correctly.  Fortunately, a change for the better is now evident.  The farm woodlot owners are coming to appreciate the importance of protecting the trees for future use.  In some cases, they are even replanting areas that have been cut over.  There are large tracts of sandy, rocky and swampy land in these districts that are satisfactory for tree production.  In fact, about all these fields are good for is the growing of timber.  Campaigns are now under way to increase tree planting and develop the production of lands adapted for forestry which previously have been idle.

The United States of the future will not be a desert, tree-less country.  However, immediate measures to save our remaining trees must be developed.  The greater part of our virgin timber has already been felled.  The aftermath forests, which succeed the virgin stand, generally are inferior.  Our supplies of ash, black walnut and hickory, once abundant, are now seriously limited.  Formerly, these mixed forests covered vast stretches of country which today support only a scant crop of young trees which will not be ready for market for many years.  These second-growth stands will never approach in value or quality the original forests.  Over large areas, poplar, white birch, and Jack pine trees now predominate on lands which formerly bore dense stands of white pine.  In many places, scrubby underbrush and stunted trees occupy lands which heretofore have been heavy producers of marketable timber trees.

Generally speaking, farm lands should not be used for forestry purposes.  On the other hand, some forest lands can be profitably cleared and used for agriculture.  For example, settlers are felling trees and fighting stumps in northern Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota.  Some of these virgin lands are valuable for farming purposes, others are not.  It is preferable that they should produce farm crops instead of tree crops if the land is best adapted to agricultural use.  It is an economic necessity that all lands in this country best suited for farming purposes should be tilled.  Our ever-increasing population demands that every acre of land useful for growing crops should be cleared and devoted to farming.  Under such conditions, the settlers should reserve sufficient woodlands for their home needs, carefully distinguishing between the land that is best for agricultural purposes and the land that is best for forestry purposes, and thus doubling their resources.