Reviews

Green Glory - The Forests of the World. Richard St. Barbe Baker. Pp. 253 illus. A. A. Wyn, Inc., New York. 1949. $3.50.

Richard St. Barbe Baker is well known as a protagonist of forest conservation and Green Glory is one of the many books he has written on the subject. He started his career as a forest officer in equatorial Africa and later served in various capacities in different parts of the world. He has traveled extensively, and much of what he has written in this book is based on his personal observations.

In Green Glory Mr. Baker describes the forest resources and forestry practices of the world by regions, emphasizing the role of forests in the national economy in each country. Referring to the scientific management of the forests of Central Europe, he writes: "We can witness successive generations of Europeans who have by trial and error, by research and experiment, and by hard necessity managed the adjustment of dense human occupation of the land without the destruction of the land's productive capacity. Down throughout the ages the forest has been an essential feature in the problem of land utilization and has profoundly influenced not only a country's own wellbeing but that of people of other countries of the world." The opposite extreme, resulting from misuse, can be seen in Africa: "Away to the north of the Gold Coast in the French sphere of influence, the nomadic farmers for years have been literally driven from the oncoming deserts. The moving sands have buried the sparse crops and are racing them into the narrow wedge of forests that remain. Here may be witnessed racial suicide on a bigger scale than the world has ever seen. Knowing the end of the forests to be near and with little chance of growing food, the chiefs have forbidden marriage and the women refuse to bear children, for they will not raise sons and daughters for starvation."

While describing in very broad terms the forests and forestry practices in different regions - from Soviet Russia and Central Europe to Africa, from India and China to the islands of the Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan, from South America to Canada - the author sums up the changes, both economic and physical, that have taken place in different countries as a result of the indiscriminate destruction of forests. The exact nature of the damage differs from place to place, according to variations in the local climatic conditions, it takes the form of desert in Africa, torrents and floods in Italy, and so on.

The author continues: "The health and the economic security of the human race depend on how well the forests of the world are managed. All the countries in the world are suffering the penalty resulting from man's neglect to plant where he has reaped.... How the forests are managed decides whether the rain and snow they receive will be a blessing or a catastrophe.... When the supply of water fails and farms are abandoned, communities are impoverished and cities and cultures die, leaving the crumbling ruins to mark their transient glory. ... Water is the source of life to a man dying of thirst or a farm needing irrigation, but it can also be a deadly enemy to all life when uncontrolled by the essential forest covering." These are the conclusions drawn from a survey of conditions prevailing over all parts of the globe.

"The great task of conserving and replenishing the forests of the world and reclaiming the deserts and waste spaces requires the concerted action of every country and at the same time provides a meeting ground for all men." The author concludes by suggesting world-wide reforestation as the only remedy for past mistakes. Of course, this does not imply the fantasy of clothing the surface of the earth with an unbroken forest cover. All that is intended is to urge a system in which "every city has its catchment area and every farm and hamlet its protecting trees." Valley settlement is really the cradle of sound culture. A co-ordinated scheme of reforestation would, in the opinion of the author, "cheek, stop and reverse the advance of the deserts upon good land of the globe and thus relieve growing shortage of food." If "genuine co-operation could be rallied internationally for the purpose of increasing the primary producing areas of the land surface, the tendency will be towards peace and prosperity." With the object of furthering international cooperation, the Society of the Men of Trees, of which the author was the founder, passed the following resolution:

"That, realizing in face of the present world famine the dependence of man on trees and forests and seeing the forests disappearing and the deserts encroaching on the remaining food sources at a rate up to 30 miles per year on 1000-mile fronts in three continents, this gathering of national representatives of 24 countries requests the aid of the United Nations Organization in preparation of a World Charter for Forestry."

Green Glory focuses the attention of the public on this resolution. Giving a world prospect on forest resources and their influence on the life of mankind, it is indeed a "cosmorama," as the author calls it. The book treats the subject non technically and is very well illustrated. It should prove a useful link in the chain of books now being published for the purpose of educating the public on forest conservation and convincing the politicians of the long-range benefits of forest conservation and the need for reforestation.

Applied Silviculture in the United States. R. E. Westveld. 2nd Edition. Pp. 590 illus. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York; Chapman & Hall, Ltd., London, 1949. $6.00.

This second edition takes account of developments which have occurred in the ten years since the first edition was published. Research during this period has strengthened the scientific basis for applying silviculture. Improved economic conditions have broadened the market for wood, especially that for low-value species and low-quality material' and thus have bettered the opportunity for closer utilization and better silviculture. Publication of Forest Cover Types of Western North America by the Society of American Foresters has put the type classification on a more orderly basis than heretofore.

As in the first edition, a broad interpretation of the scope of silviculture is adopted by including slash disposal, disease and insect control, regulation of grazing, control of burning, and control of logging damage.

Seventeen forest regions in the continental United States are recognized and one in Alaska. These regions are: (1) Northeast spruce-hardwood region; (2) New England white pine region, (3) oak region, (4) Allegheny hardwood-pine-hemlock region; (5) Southern Appalachian region; (6) Southern pine region; (7) Southern, bottomland hardwood region, (8) Central hardwood region (9) Lake States region, (10) Douglas-fir region; (11) Northern Rocky Mountain region; (12) Lodgepole pine region; (13) Southwest ponderosa pine region; (14) California pine region; (15) Northwest ponderosa pine region; (16) Black Hills ponderosa pine region; (17) Red-wood region; and (18) Southeastern Alaska.

A chapter on each region summarizes information under general headings. "Description and History" includes location and ownership, physiographic features, climatic features, development of lumbering. "The Forests and Their Management" covers the main types and groups of types under three subheadings: (l) ecological basis, having particular reference to composition and character of forest, stand regeneration and development, and windfall; (2) economic basis, including utilization and marketing problems, growth and rotation and financial aspects, and (3) application of methods, under which cutting and planting, slash disposal, disease and insect problems, and control of damage are treated. The number of types discussed varies from one to eight in the various forest regions, and, in most eases, types have been grouped, i.e., where a key species of high value is a component of several types recognized as distinct by the Society of American Foresters. Each chapter includes a list of references now brought up to date which provides further material for students interested in more extensive study of forest regions or forest types. The book includes both author and subject indexes.

Because of the effect of inflation on dollar value, the author has, so far as practicable, stated costs in terms of man hours or by ratios to show relative values.

The material on the forest regions and types of the western United States naturally deals primarily with the problems of converting virgin forests to managed; forests, whereas generally in the United States the problems are those of managing second growth forests or residual stands. In such western regions as the Douglas-fir and the California pine, however, a considerable amount of cutting in second growth stands is under way.. The technical literature, and hence this book, does not seem to have fully caught up with current practices. More - over, the expanded opportunity for silviculture created by marketability of formerly unmerchantable species such as some of the true firs in the western United States has not yet been fully reflected in technical literature. Any such textbook, however, can never be fully up-to-date, particularly in periods when economic conditions are changing rapidly, and it is to be expected that subsequent editions of the book will contain such material.

The book brings forth much of the significant research and experience, and will serve as a valuable summary of the state of knowledge and the state of practices in the forest regions and forest types. It is intended as a teaching text for technical students, for which purpose it is excellent; moreover, it will serve those who wish a readily available conspectus of the state of silvicultural knowledge and practices in the forests of the United States.

The Earth's Green Carpet. Louise E. Howard. Pp. 258. Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pennsylvania. 1947. $3.00.

The name of Sir Albert Howard is well-known as a leader in what has come to be known as the "school of organic farming." In this book his wife and coworker sets down in non-technical language the doctrine, the evidence, and the proposals which Sir Albert and many others have developed.

The central thesis is the restoration and maintenance of a fertile soil. In nature, each of the manifold kinds and types of vegetation develops and maintains a closed economy in which minerals withdrawn from the soil in the processes of growth are eventually returned to the soil as leaf fall or through death of the plants and are made available for re-use through the workings of the micro-life in the soil itself.

This natural wheel of life is inexorable. Man does and must use land and thereby destroy or greatly modify natural processes which maintain fertility, soil structure, and susceptibility of the soil to damage or removal by erosion. The de crease in soil fertility often induces great increase in diseases and insects of cultivated plants and animals and also of man when his food products are derived from infertile soils. The spectacular and costly efforts to restore soil fertility by application of fertilizers and to control diseases and insects by directly attacking them tend to be ineffective so long as basic natural fertility, structure, and life of the soil remain imperfect.

The widespread practice of shifting cultivation might be effective in restoring fertility if sufficient time were allowed after the land is returned to forest, but usually that is not the ease.

The forest is the perfect example of the complex organism of trees shrubs and lesser vegetation, animals, birds, and insects which, if treated properly, develops and maintains soil fertility and stability. In nature, forest tends to expand at the expense of grass, the other great natural type. But, historically, grass is winning. The author's chapter on "The Retreat of the Forest" - over ten percent the entire book - traces the consequences of removing forests on soil structure and fertility, the mechanisms of forest influences the roles and values of hedgerows and shelter-belts in agriculture and measures short of perfection v which can minimize the ill effects of large scale removal of forests But the author concludes that probably in the long run only the restoration of forest - the unique piece of natural machinery - can completely restore fertility. This would involve treating the forest as a long-term rotation crop, would represent short-term sacrifices, but would be the wisest of all plans. The alternative is to continue present and past errors in using the soil and to accept the plagues and dwindling of soil fertility which follow the retreat of the forest.

Foresters will find in this book a powerful, comprehensive, and cogently-reasoned statement of the role of forests in the use of the soil. It is well to have the broad picture, whatever the pressures and urgencies of the current and immediate problems of everyday work. Forestry in the broadest sense may in time come to be more widely understood as an indispensable foundation of agriculture, not a convenient appendage.

Vegetable Gums and Resins. F. N. Howes, D.Sc, Principal Scientific Officer, Roy al Botanic (larders Kew. Pp. 188. The Chronica Botanica Co., Waltham, Mass.; Stechert-Hafner, Inc., New York City. 1949. $5.

Economically, vegetable gums and resins are very important plant products. Their consumption by manufacturing industries is quite large, and the volume of world trade in them is estimated at over three-quarters of a million tons per annum As many thousands of species in the vegetable kingdom are capable of yielding gums and resins of some utility, it was clearly impossible for the author to deal with all of them. He has, therefore, confined his discussion to those of commercial importance, bringing up-to-date and summarizing the many important contributions to their study that can be found scattered over a wide range of publications from different parts of the world. An important feature of the book is that the various gums and resins entering the trade are connected with their botanical origin and the species concerned are illustrated by: botanical drawings, This should enable organized collection and thereby minimize chances for adulteration.

The gums and resins are distinguished according to their chemical definition, and each group is dealt with in a separate chapter. Valuable information is given on the important gums and resins marketed under various trade names all over the world, including information on their availability, their sources, their chemical and physical properties, methods of collection, and details on grading, price, etc. Gum arable and rosin production in different countries has been discussed in great detail, which is justified because of the important uses of these products. Lac and shellac, though not essentially of vegetable origin, have been included to make the book sufficiently comprehensive.

Forest Pathology. John Shaw Boyce. 2nd edition. Pp. xi + 550. McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York and London. 1948. $6.

The second edition of this standard American text and reference book includes a large amount of new information which has appeared since the first edition of 1938. It is thus the most comprehensive and up-to-date work on forest pathology available to American foresters

Essentially the book is organized on the basis of the type and location of the disease, rather than on the detailed taxonomic characteristics of the causal agencies. In this way it is expected to be more useful to practitioners who must deal with the multitude of diseases occurring on the American timber species. Introductory material includes a general discussion of the nature of disease of forest trees and a brief description of the principal groups of fungi which cause consequential diseases. The various chapters then deal with the noninfectious diseases, seedling diseases, root diseases, foliage diseases of hardwoods, foliage diseases of conifers, and the following stem diseases: rusts of conifers; cankers of conifers, cankers of hardwoods; galls, witches brews, and faciations; diebacks and wilts, stem diseases caused by mistletoes, dwarf mistletoes, lichens, and climbers; decay.

In each of these chapters the disease is discussed under the following headings: 1) history and description; 2) hosts; 3) damage, 4) symptoms; 5) casual agency; and 6) control. Each chapter also contains an extensive and up-to-date bibliography of the pertinent American technical literature.

A group of chapters deals with the deterioration of dead timber and of forest products, with separate consideration of decay and sap stains. A chapter on the principles and methods of forest disease control treats separately of problems of native diseases and of the often catastrophic imported diseases such as white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) and chestnut blight (Endothia). The author examines the very great difficulties of effective quarantine against additional imports, but suggests feasible steps, going far beyond present American practice, that might be taken.

An appendix deals with the subject of fungicides.

The book is well indexed and the references, chapter by chapter, are clearly and: carefully worked out to include material of current value.

Since the losses of forests, forests trees, and forest products are very great, and since more methods of control are constantly being worked out by the technicians, this book should be extremely valuable to all practitioners, who must of necessity deal with problems of disease control. It will be valuable as well in teaching the oncoming classes of foresters, who will likewise deal with such problems as forests and timber continue to increase in value.

New Knowledge in Forestry. Report of the Chief of the Forest Service, 1949, United States Department of Agriculture. U. S. Government Printing Office, Washington D.C. 15 cents.

Mr. Watts, the Chief of the U.S. Forest Service, continues to stress a major aspect of forestry in each year's report. In 1948 it was national forest administration in 1949, new knowledge in forestry. "Wise management and use of our forest resources depends knowledge, "he observes." Through or well-organised research we can leash to increase - forests productivity and achieve more effective conservation. Research can show rue better ways of: doing things, at lower costs."

Research has always been a major activity of the Forest Service, indeed it antedates by many years the administrative activities. The present pattern of regional forest experiment stations was first the Southwest, and the Forest Products Laboratory was started in 1910. The expansion of both and the refinement of the regional stations in work centers have been reported in detail in UNASYLVA, and are recounted briefly in the 1949 Annual Report which emphasizes the serious inadequacy of research work in Alaska and the lack of a regional station in the Great Plains.

In reporting on accomplishments in research under the broad headings: forest-management research; research in forest-fire control; range research; forest influences; forest-economies research forest-products research; and tropical forest research, it is inevitable that the barest sketch can be given of many projects of very great value and significance. But, as the research is clearly referenced to the practical problems, the reader is able to grasp the ways in which it is being aimed and directed at specific targets.

During the past half-century, research has changed from the simple and empirical methods of the earlier years to the fundamental methods of today. Mr. Watts emphasizes that this trend must continue. He sees the necessity for Research to keep ahead of the needs of management, with daring and imagination as its essential ingredients, and as wildlands generally are increasing in value, more precise research answers and more refinement in applying research results to each of the many variations in site and cover conditions are necessary.

As to organization of research, Mr. Watts says: "Through years of experience, the Forest Service has developed what it believes to be a desirable balance between co-ordination and independence in its research program. Its research staff maintains close contact with industry, with public and private land managers, with other public agencies, and with other research institutions. Its regional experiment station set-up keeps it in touch with local problems, and the headquarters research divisions endeavor to provide the necessary integration and co-ordination. At the same time its workers are encouraged to do their own thinking and to exercise initiative. They are under no obligation to any special groups or interests. The ultimate criterion in determining the direction of the research program is the public interest."

Finally Mr. Watts claims, the results of research are not being applied as widely as they should. Far too many private timber operations, particularly on small woodlands owned by individuals, do not utilize the information available, and the forests suffer.

The report deals briefly with the other major arms of Forest Service work: co-operation in state and private forestry and administration of the national forests. Largest in size of the co-operative programs is that dealing with fire control on state or private forest lands. This now covers 339.6 million acres (137,400,000 hectares), 11.5 million more than in the preceding year. But 99.5 million acres (40,300,000 hectares) remain without organized protection. On the protected lance the burned area was 6/10 of 1 percent in 1948; on the unprotected lands, an estimated 14-1/3 percent. The job of fully protecting the forest lands will cost 40 million dollars, and Congress has recently authorized the 20 million dollars representing the Federal Government's share.

A re-analysis of the dollar economies of the national forest enterprise as a whole shows the following annual costs and returns:

Nonmonetary returns, evaluated:

Recreation and wildlife	$ 25,000,000
Water	300,000,000
Free permits for timber, range, etc.	1,000,000
Cash receipts to the Treasury	32,000,000
Other monetary returns	4,000,000
Increase in net growth and inventory revaluation	50,000,000
Total annual returns	$ 412,000,000
Total annual operating costs	$ 58,000,000

These costs include, in addition to all appropriations for operating expenses, a depreciation charge on roads and other improvements, interest on investments, and payments to the states of 25 percent of all receipts.

The cut of national forest timber remained at 3,700 million board feet; the return increased from 20.6 million dollars to 26.9 million dollars. Mr. Watts says that maintenance of the present level will require opening up many new timber areas and that a 50 percent increase in cut is possible if access is worked out; A program of 100 million dollars a year for five years is needed. On the 180,374,000 net acres of national forests the Forest Service maintains 75,000 miles of road and 88,000 miles of trail, and the cost leaves little from current appropriations for new construction. The current receipts (nearly 32 million dollars, of which nearly 27 million dollars was from sale of timber) should justify the capital investments required to make the national forests fully accessible and productive.

This report, like earlier reports, is an essential document for those who wish to keep up to date on the problems and accomplishments the successes and failures of American forestry. The all-too-brief summary of research is valuable to those faced with the problem of establishing research organizations and programs essential to the conversion of unmanaged forests to a fully managed and productive condition.

Forest Management Education in Oregon. Walter Fraser McCulloch. College Press, Oregon State College, Corvallis, Oregon. 1949.

The first major opportunity for employment of' foresters in the United States of America came with the establishment of the western National Forests. These were generally inaccessible and little used, and the early work wee largely custodial in character. The first forest schools based their curricula on the technical skills which were needed at the time. Since nearly all employment was in the public forests, much emphasis wee placed on preparing students to pass the qualifying examinations of' the employer.

Today the public forests are increasingly under active use and management, not alone for timber, but for the other values of watershed, range, wildlife, and recreation. Forestry involves both correct technical handling of each use and the more difficult task of harmonizing the often competitive demands of several uses on the same area at the same time. Moreover, as volume of work has in" creased, the public forester has had more and more to work through employees. He is thus a manager and administrator rather than a lone technician.

Employment of foresters by industry has increased greatly and it is clear that desirable qualifications for such employment differ in certain respects from those of publicly employed foresters.

Within the forest schools the great increases in enrollment have made it more and more difficult for instructor and student to have more than a remote impersonal relation, and planned, continuing counseling of students has weakened Emphasis on instruction in techniques has left little curricular time for even a minimum of general education to develop the student's intelligent interest in and knowledge of the world in which he will work and to prepare him to discharge his duties as a citizen and member of society. At the same time, the over-all limitation of a four-year course makes it difficult to broaden the educational base, however desirable.

Surveys and analyses show clearly that major changes in curricula are urgently desired by employers and graduates alike and that defects which have resulted from merely alight changes in the old purely technical education are recognized clearly.

What, then, can a forestry school do to meet the very real needs of forestry and employers today more adequately, to prepare its student HO that their potentialities as professional men and as citizens will be more fully developed; to teach management as well as techniques; to prepare men for private as well as public employment?

In this scholarly and objective monograph, Forestry Management Education in Oregon, the author undertakes to answer these pressing questions for one old-line school. The often conflicting pressures of general educational theory and doctrine of employers' wishes, of local needs; of time limitations, make any solution necessarily a compromise, as the author recognizes.

But he concludes (and the plan is in effect at the school) that careful and systematic counseling of students by the teaching staff, will eliminate men who have chosen the wrong career and strengthen those who have qualities for success as foresters. The use of standard interest and aptitude tests is considered desirable; moreover, supervision and guidance of outside work during the four-year course can be given; and guidance of graduates to jobs for which they are beat adapted can strengthen their chances for success Bone instruction in personnel management can be given, and greater leeway for general education left in the curriculum. Differential instruction in public and private forestry can be provided.

There will be disagreement with - the detailed curriculum set up, with the procedures and forma used in counseling and in giving personal guidance; in short, with the details of the Oregon State plan. But the treatise is worthy of widespread attention. It may profitably be studied by many another forest school and by persons who face the task of setting up new schools.