NEED FOR A UNIFIED FOREST RESEARCH PROGRAM ^ 



(Contributions from the School of Forestry, Yale University, Xo. 6) 



By J. W. TouMEY 

 Director, School of Forestry, Yale University 



As early as 1845 Carl Heyer, of Germany, published a paper advo- 

 cating the formation of an association to exercise control over forest 

 research. The recommendations of Heyer were voiced during the fol- 

 lowing fifteen years by such prominent European foresters as Baur, 

 Gayer, and Ebermayer, and in 1868 Baur published a paper on the 

 organization of forest research and the methods of conducting experi- 

 ments. At a meeting of foresters in Vienna, Austria, in the autumn 

 of 1868 arrangements were made for the election of a committee of 

 five prominent foresters interested in research to prepare a scheme of 

 forest research, point out most pressing work, discuss organization, and 

 formulate rules. On this committee were Judeich, Heyer, and Eber- 

 mayer, who were among the foremost foresters of their day. ' 



The findings of this committee were that so far as Germany was 

 concerned all the larger States like Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria should 

 have independent forest research institutes and in the smaller States, 

 as in Baden, it was recommended that forest research be organized 

 and made a part of the work of professors of forestry in the colleges 

 and academies within their respective States. After extended discus- 

 sion of the findings of the committee, due largely to Danckelmann, 

 forest research was finally organized in Germany as a part of the edu- 

 cational branch in forestry. In general, the president of the forest 

 college or academy in a given State became the president also of the 

 forest research institute, as illustrated by the situation at Eberswalde, 

 in Prussia, and at Tharandt, in Saxony. 



It appears that Germany was the first country to organize her forest 

 research and to establish forest research institutes. Later on forest 

 research became organized in connection with educational institutions 

 in other countries. Thus the research station in France was under the 

 president of the school of forestry at Nancy. Research work in Eng- 

 land was linked up with the educational work at Coopers Hill and later 



* Read before the winter meeting of the Association of Eastern Foresters, at 

 New York, N. Y., February i, 1919. 



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