802 JOURNAI, OF FORESTRY 



other things, have a good grounding in systematic botany, physics, 

 chemistry, meteorology, geology, climatology, and similar sciences. 

 He should especially study English to enable him to attain clearness 

 of expression ; for science is exact in expression as well as in methods. 

 Good training in logic is necessary to weigh evidence and to make 

 logical deductions. 



Nor is his training in college the all-important consideration. As I 

 have pointed out before, research is a spirit or an attitude, and the 

 embryo investigator who does not acquire this attitude is swimming 

 against the current, so to speak. A recent editorial^ in the Experiment 

 Station Record spoke of the training of a research man thus : 



"The making of an effective research man or a constructive and original 

 experimenter is a longer and far more difficult process than making a bachelor 

 of arts or of science. The requirements start with the man himself, his tem- 

 perament, his capacity for right thinking, his ability to receive the impression of 

 high ideals and acquire lofty standards, and his love of truth. There must be 

 a foundation to build upon. If a sifting process could start at this point it 

 would save some time, expense, and disappointment; but such sifting is only 

 partially possible; largely the result must be worked out by experience." 



I could go on at length speaking about the training of the research 

 man, but space will not permit it. Moreover, I wish to go somewhat 

 into detail concerning the training which research men in forestry 

 should receive in plant physiology and ecology. I wish to point out the 

 general lack of such knowledge among foresters and offer this as a plea 

 for more and better botany — especially plant physiology and ecology — 

 in our forestry schools. 



With very few exceptions, the botany offered at the large forestry 

 schools is inadequate, or, to put it in another way, if the botany courses 

 are there, the foresters do not seem to get them. The one notable ex- 

 ception that has come to my notice is the University of Nebraska. The 

 late Dr. C. E. Bessey, at that institution, saw to it that the foresters 

 were well equipped in botany, because he clearly perceived the intimate 

 relation of botany to forestry. As a result of Prof. Bessey's attitude 

 we count more Nebraska foresters among our best forestry investiga- 

 tors than all other institutions combined. 



To go still further, I will say that the botanical knowledge displayed 

 by some of our forestry school graduates is inadequate not only for the 

 needs of the investigator of problems in forest ecology, but inadequate 

 even for the needs of the average practising forester. We have but to 

 go to some of the recent forestry literature to find proof of these state- 



Experiment Station Record 36: 2, pp. loi, 1917. 



