THE BREEDING OF FOREST TREES

I N CULTIVATED agricultural plants selection and breeding have been practised for many centuries and have resulted in the production of types which are highly superior to the original, wild forms.Forest trees, however, were not concurrently subjected to t h s process of improvement since to a very great extent forest products were obtained by purely extractive means with* out recourse to cultural methods.Uncontrolled commercial exploitation of vast forest areas, a process of extraction without replacement, has created, however, serious problems in, volving both private and public interests.The depletion of readily accessible stands, with steadily increasing distances from timber supply to mill, has created a pressure on commercial forestry w h c h forces serious consideration of reproductive and cultural practices.T h e denudation of natural forest areas has created the further problems of soil conservation, flood control, land utilization, wildelife conservation, and others w h c h demand the attention of public agencies.Forest operators are beginning to realize that they must make provisions for the regeneration of the areas they are cutting over, and in many case?are adopting methods which appear to be both successful and in harmony with the degree of management practicable in their region.But this does not affect the large tracts of cut-over forest w h c h have been so devastated that they can be properly regenerated only by planting or artificial seeding.If private re.forestation is not possible on these areas, they should, in the public interest, be reforested and managed as national forests.Various types of afforestation are also receiving increased attention, both private and public.Only one example, prairie shelterbelts, need be men.tioned.The above should serve to show that the forest problem is one of great importance, that, born of necessity, there is coming into being a new and more intelligent attitude toward this problem as a whole, and that cultural 1.