cut-over land in the light of fire protection also. It is the
inflammable, sun-dried, brake-covered openings, yearly increasing
in extent, which constitute his greatest fire menace. The conversion
of these into green young growth, too dense for fern and salal and
destructible only by the hottest crown fires, is the best protection
he can give mature timber surrounded by them. Some additional expense
for a few years to accomplish this will usually be cheaper and safer
than the patrol otherwise required for an indefinite period.

(e) Advance in value of the land itself, realizable when the second
crop is cut, will in many cases be great enough to make an otherwise
unpromising reforestation investment profitable.

HARDWOOD EXPERIMENTS

In the foregoing pages consideration has been given to the growing
of native coniferous species only. There is a field, however, yet
to be entered into by the timber grower in the Pacific Northwest,
which gives promise of good returns. This is the growing of eastern
hardwoods. As is well known, the supply of native hardwoods in
this region is deficient and those occurring are of poor quality.
The demand for staple hardwoods is constant, and at present can
be filled only through importation from the East. Moreover, the
manufacturing industry in the Pacific Northwest is as yet only in
its infancy, and as this industry becomes of greater importance
in the future, the demand for hardwood lumber is bound to increase.
This increase in demand, coupled with the rapidly diminishing supply
in the East, seems certain to create a condition under which it
will be profitable to grow hardwoods commercially.