170 



FORESTRY 



vcrsity of Montana early recognized 

 tlic new point of view, and shaped its 

 courses to develop technically trained 

 men. Recognizing the fact that For- 

 estry is realh' a phase of Applied 

 Botany, a broad foundation in Botany 

 was not only held desirable, but actu- 

 ally necessan'. Botany was not so essen- 

 tial in the early days, when the main 

 aim was to get the timber crop har- 

 vested and converted into lumber with- 

 out paying any attention to the sources 

 of future timber supplies, or the con- 

 servation of the timber supplies already 

 at hand. I'hose days are past, for the 

 most part. Our fast disappearing sup- 

 plies of timber point to the fact that 

 attention must be paid to the seeding 

 and growing of the greatest possible 

 timber crop on a given area, and to the 

 efficient utilization of all materials in 

 the harvesting and preparing of the 

 timber for market. The successful for- 

 ester then, must know the tree— the 

 plant with which he is dealing. He 

 must know its structure, its physiology, 

 its relation to disease, and the influence 

 of environmental factors upon growth, 

 quality of product, etc. 



Plant Anatomy occupies rather a 

 unique position in reference to either 

 Forestry' or Botany. It is the founda- 

 tion upon which the rest of the struc- 

 ture is built. Without a knowledge of 

 anatomy the student can not really 

 know physiology; without a sound 

 foundation in anatomy and physiology, 

 the student is not properly prepared for 

 ecology or silviculture; and without a 

 knowledge of all these, the student 

 can not adequately understand the 

 cause, effect, and control of timber dis- 

 eases. To the botanist, of course, the 

 study of anatomy serves another pur- 

 pose. The study of structure is helping 

 us to establish the relationships be- 

 tween plants, and the study of the 

 anatomy of the fossil plants has made 

 it possible to picture more or less ac- 

 curately, the sequence of evolution 



among the plants of the past. However, 

 such questions are only of passing in- 

 terest to the forester. 



A rather specialized phase of plant 

 anatomy has to do with the microscopic 

 identification of wood. A systematic 

 study of this kind should ser\'e two 

 principal functions: ( 1 ) It should fa- 

 miliarize the student with the struc- 

 tural characteristics of most of the 

 woods of commercial importance, and 

 (2) It should give the student the 

 training and practice necessan' to dis- 

 tinguish between woods, which under 

 the naked eve or hand lens, look much 

 alike. In most cases an absolute identi- 

 fication can be made with the micro- 

 scope. 



A knowledge of the structure of 

 woods is already of immense value in 

 helping to solve practically all prob- 

 lems having to do with the utilization 

 of forest products. As methods of utili- 

 zation and disposal are refined and 

 improved, this knowledge of structure 

 will doubtless become of increasing 

 importance. We know that there is a 

 definite relation between structure and 

 the ease of penetration of preser\'atives. 

 Technical men believe that there is a 

 relation between structure, and the 

 durability and strength of woods, al- 

 though this phase is little understood 

 at the present time. The utilization of 

 certain species for pulp-wood also seems 

 to be closely correlated with structure. 



In the early days wood was plen- 

 tiful, and there was practically no 

 tendency to substitution. With the 

 growing scarcity of some woods in par- 

 ticular, there has developed a tendency 

 to substitute under the guise of trade 

 names. In many instances, only a 

 microscopic identification will serve to 

 protect the buyer. For instance, there 

 are five species of Swietenia so closely 

 alike that they can be legitimately sold 

 under the trade name "Mahagony." 

 But in the Tropics and Sub-tropics 

 there are many other woods which ap- 



