284 JOURNAL OF FORKSTRY 



research is chiefly concerned with forest economy or, as we term it^. 

 forest products. Although this subject is not dignified as a special' 

 branch of forest research in European forest research institutes, it 

 seems to the writer to be of prime importance in any country where 

 forestry is in its earher stages of development. We find it strongly 

 developed in this country, notably at the United States Forest Research 

 Laboratory at Aladison, Wisconsin. In India this branch investigates 

 a wide range of subjects as it does in this country. For instance, it 

 investigates the strength value of woods and variations in strength due 

 to cutting at different seasons. It investigates woods useful for special 

 purposes, such as for paper, boxes, matches, etc. It has investigated 

 the antiseptic treatment of wood' for special purposes and the treatment 

 of tea-box shooks to make them immune from insect attack. It inves- 

 tigates new markets for forest products, and on the whole is engaged 

 in the same general kind of research as at the Aladison laboratory. 



At Eberswalde, Tharandt, and elsewhere in central Europe, forests 

 have long been under management, markets are established, the prop- 

 erties of local forests products are well known, and forest research of 

 the nature noted above receives relatively scant attention. 



Silvicultural research, however, has the leading place, that larger 

 yields may be obtained from forests already under management. Both 

 in India and America meteorological and silvical investigations center 

 in forest ecology in order to interpret natural forest growth in terms 

 of site factors. In Europe, however, meteorology has for its object the 

 determination of forest influences or forest reactions. Natural forest 

 growth uninterrupted by man has largely disappeared from Europe. 

 In Europe the work of the forest chemist centers in investigations of 

 atmospheric impurities that afifect forest growth and research on forest 

 soil. In India and in this country his work centers in chemical investi- 

 gations of various woods and other forest products. 



If we take into consideration the experience worked out in the old 

 world since 1845, i^ appears that each country and, in the case of large 

 countries like Germany or the United States, each State or province 

 should conduct its own forest researches. Howard, in discussing forest 

 research in India, says that, "judging from European standards, it 

 would appear that each province should conduct its own forest research 

 and there should be less centralization than there is at present at Dehra 

 Dun." In the writer's opinion, the same criticism can be ofifered in this 

 country. There should be less centralization than there is at present in 

 the United States Forest Service in \\'asliington. 



