The Hawaiian gazette., 1903-12-15
FORESTRY WORK.

EONCSINI WoNNs
Secretary Wilson of the Department
of Agriculture in his annual report tt
Congress deals exhaustively with tins
| forestry problem, n subject which Il
largely occupying the attention OF tht
Territorial Board of Agriculture anu
Forestry at the present time. Dealing
chiefly with the lumber industry, Sec
rethry Wilson calls attention to the
need for cooperation with private own
ers, a policy which the local board IL
| following in its treatment of the for
estry question in Hawaii Secretary
Wilson says:
"In cooperating with private owners
the Bureau is not expanding public
money to benefit private interests.
Scientific forestry-that Is. enlightened
management based on an accurate fore
cast of what forest can be made to
produce in the future-is impossible
without full knowledge of all the forces.
natural and artificial, which affect It's
productiveness. This involves "A care
full study of numbering methods on the
one hand and of the forest itself on the
other. The Bureau has now in its pos
session as the result of this co-opera-
tive work the tabulated results OF
studies in many States from Maine TO
California and from Florida to Wash :
ington, representing total OF recorded
individual measurements in the forest,
the number of which would mount to
scores of millions.
This vast mass of material has been
gathered mainly at the private expense
of the owners, who have received the
expert assistance of the Bureau Its
possession makes it possible continual
ly to enlarge the field of forestry 1t
has been secured by making its accu-
mutation go hand in hand with practi-
cal results. Every working plan pre-
pared and put in operation has meant
both the preservation of a source Of
National wealth and an addition to the
knowledge necessary for the wise use
of the public as we'll as the private for
ests of the land.
1.-TWO considerations must be urged
in connection with present conditions.
The first Is that cooperation Is now
supplying the Bureau with what 1t
needs for Government work at less
cost than would be required to secure
the same result independently. The
second is that the speedy introduction
of management on private lands Is
matter Of pressing Importance. Forest
preservation is necessary in the inter-
est of the public welfare. Forest de-
struction on n large scale is now in
progress. 1t can be checked only by
showing that 1t is possible to use the
forests without destroying them. The
Bureau of Forestry is doing this, and
there Is no other agency which can do
1t. If the Bureau does not put forth
every endeavor to introduce conserva-
tive management among private own
ers, the public interest will suffer.
while 1t Is true that hitherto vir-
tually everything that mas been done
in this country to introduce conserva-
tive management as paying business
has been done by the Bureau, it is
far from my wish that the Bureau
should continue to control operations
for private owners any longer than
there Is clear and imperative need.
1t has already entered on the policy
of detaching from its staff competent
men to take charge of private opera
tons when called upon to do so, in spite
of the fact that it needs the services
in its work of all the trained foresters
1t has as yet been able to secure The
Government service, however, Is the
natural goal toward which most am
bilious students of forestry will strive
because of the superior opportunities of
training which 1t affords j