2 Forestry Quarterly. 



The Forestry Quarterly opens its pages for the freest dis- 

 cussion of all forestry problems ; it welcomes advice and invites 

 criticism which may tend to promote our professional knowledge. 



Since no past masters of tlie art, but only a young generation 

 of foresters, just bcgitniing their work, are, for the time being, to 

 be the contributors and editors of this journal, it must step forth 

 with due modesty and with the expectation of deficiencies, which 

 only experience, as the time goes on, can correct. 



It is in the main a student publication, designed for students, 

 both in the field and school. The supervision, by an Advisory 

 Board of older men, will, however, assure as high a standard as 

 is possible under such circumstances. 



We hope that in the conduct of this journal the spirit of one of 

 the fathers of modern forestry, Cotta, so simply breathed forth in 

 the preface of his first work on Silviculture, will be always pres- 

 ent. To impress this spirit of modesty and yet of critical candor 

 upon ourselves and upon our readers, we introduce this first issue 

 with a translation of Cotta's words, which, written nearly a cen- 

 tury ago, are still largeh" true and come home to us with pecu- 

 liar force at this time, when the light of forestry is just dawning 

 in our country. 



