Evening star., 1925-02-01
Latin America May Supply
Hardwoods for i. S. in Future

"ith wood being consumed in the
united States four times as fast as
IL Is grown here, il is recognized on
all sides that the day is near AT
mana when consid derable part OF
thiS country's lumber will have to be
imported at least until conservation
methods, which are now beginnine
To be applied permit the growth OF
new timber to keep pace with the
demand for the product
Where will the United States turn
FOR its hardwood supplies when the
present crop is exhausted? That is
the question which today is agitatine
the minds of foresters and of lumber
men and 20 which they are now turn
ing their serious attention 1t is a
most important problem because il
afects the economic welfare Of the
entire Nation. There is scarcely an
Industry or q business which is not
dependent directly or indirectly. on
the availability and the price of
lumber. The question enters every
nome in the land because wood is an
essential raw material in the MANN
facture of hundreds of articles OF
daily household use, from the chairs
ana the table in the dining room to
Ihe handle OF the knife with which
the potatoes are peeled.
Tropical America Hardwood Source.
Latin America. it is believed. can
be made to furnish the hardwood
lumber supplies which the United
states is going to need a few years
hence. On that account plans are
nelns made for a thorough scientific
survey of the resources and CONNER
clal possibilities of the tropical
American forests, from the stand
point of mark etable timber
Preparations to carry on this i'm
portant work are being made by the
recently organized Tropical Plant Re-
search Foundation, formed several
months ago under the auspices of the
National Research Council ''to promote
research for the advancement OF
knowledge OF the plants and crops of
me tropics; to conduct Investigations in
plant pathology, entomology, plant
breeding, botany and forestry, horticul-
ture and agronomy, and to publish the
results thereof
The forestry division of the Tropical
Plant Research Foundation will be in
charge of Maj. George p. Ahern, L. S.
A, retired, former director of forestry
In the Philippine Islands. BY reason of
his long experience in the Philippines.
as we'll as his work in this country and
his general knowledge Of forestry prob
lens, it is believed he is eminentIy fit
ted for the task
Latin American Forestry Methods.
Owing to the fact that wastefuI lum-
ber-cutting methods have been en-
ployed in many Of the Latin American
countries and that conservation of
forest resources" is phrase which is
Just beginning to be heard in many of
these republics, one of the first and most
important things to be done, It is
pointed out, is to educate the people of
the South and Central American coun-
tries to the economic value of present
day forest practices. Students from
these countries, it is asserted, will have
10 be trained and then go back TO teach
their people through forest instruction
the necessity for aking proper care of
tnsir forests and rot sla ashing and burn
Zig them to pieces.
Maj Ahern in discussing this phase
Of the subject said it would taxi
from 10 to 20 years to make the right
educational approach. but that it was
2 method which had proved most
successful in the Philippines and that
it was essential that the people be
made to understand through native
Instructors the value to them of their
Forests.
$500 TEee Species in Amazonia.
A sort of Census of the tree re-
sources" of Latin America will be
taken. This will include not only a
botanical study of the number of
tree species found in a particular ter
ritory, but also the density with
which various kinds of mark etable
trees occur in each section and the
availability of transportation facil-
lilies.
1t is known, for instance, that there
are more than $500 species of trees
in the Amazon valley and a large
number exist in other parts of tropi-
cal America. but it is believed that
the greater part of the stand" is
made up of a very few species, per-
haps not more than 20, as was shown
TO be the case in many parts of the
Philippines.
In addition, an effort will be made,
through the proposed study, TO ascer-
tain what kinds of wood, found in
the forests of tropical America but
not now being used because of some
unfounded prejudice against them or
because some other variety has been
advertised mere extensively, may be