CONSIDERATIONS IN SILVICULTURAL RESEARCH 799 



into account. Forestry students making forestry their life work should 

 make an inventory of their qualifications and try to determine which 

 kind of work they are best fitted for — research or administrative. For- 

 est Service officials should assist in guiding young foresters into jobs 

 for which they are fitted by nature, and forestry professors can go a 

 long way toward advising their students in what branch of forestry 

 work they can be most eflfective. 



In this connection let me turn to Dr. Duncan's book,* in the intro- 

 duction of wliich he gives some sound advice to those who train re- 

 search men and also those who employ them. Although what he says 

 refers to men intending to enter the field of industrial chemistry, his 

 whole scheme is very appropriate in this connection. His advice is as 

 follows : After a student has determined to enter the field of industrial 

 •chemistry, the next thing he should do is — forget it. The next five or 

 six years he should study all the chemistry he can get without any 

 thought whatever of possible industrial application. He must lay his 

 foundations in "pure science." After he receives employment the em- 

 ployer should not expect any immediate results. He should let the man 

 brood over his work for from two to five years. Experience has shown 

 that such patience is regularly and munificently rewarded. In the 

 meantime the embryo chemist must be kept free from routine duties 

 which can be performed by men of less training. The manufacturer 

 must give him adequate laboratory facilities, and, to a large extent, the 

 factory is his. The only restriction is that he must not interfere with 

 factory operations except in such cases where his theories have been 

 thoroughly demonstrated beforehand. 



This scheme recognizes the characteristics of the research type of 

 man and caters to his peculiar traits. Besides, it contains good sugges- 

 tions both for the forestry school and the Forest Service. Students 

 who later intend to specialize in silvical and silvicultural research should 

 secure a thorough grounding in pure science. The Forest Service 

 should, after employing them, keep them free from routine, give them 

 adequate research facilities, and let them continue to be students both 

 in habit and thought. 



III. Training Competent Research Men, Especially in the 

 Botanical Sciences 



If our forestry organizations and our educational institutions will 

 recognize the significance of research work in general, and forestry re- 



* R. K. Duncan: The Chemistry of Commerce. Harper & Bros., New York, 



Sept., IQ07. 



