872 jouRXAi. OF F()Ri;sTm- 



"It is my belief that at present all energies ought to be bent on making sil- 

 vicultural studies, on securing by field work and experiment the biological and 

 ecological knowledge which should underlie silvicultural practice. 



"I suppose the Forest Service Experiment Stations are doing this. 



"I would, however, accentuate that only the best men — best as to knowledge, 

 imagination, and judgment — can be expected to secure trustworthy results. 

 Indeed, specialists who are thoroughly competent to apply modern methods of 

 ecological research are needed for this work. 



"Beware of doctrinaires is my parting advice ! They have kept silviculture- 

 back for a century, even in Germany." 



About a half year later Barrington Moore- ably pointed out at least 

 three essential guiding principles which must eventually be followed in 

 this kind of work. He pointed out the necessity of recognizing the 

 research type of mind as something quite apart from the directive or 

 administrative type ; he emphasized the necessity of the purely scien- 

 tific point of view rather than the practical and often materialistic ; and 

 he expressed the idea that it is folly to expect an administrative officer 

 to do justice to this highly specialized type of work or to have him 

 direct research men. Only a few months later Dr. Fernow expressed 

 the second of these in an address before the Society of American For- 

 esters.^ In reviewing the progress made by forestry in this country in 

 the last thirty years he said this about forest investigations : 



''So far, however, the accent in the investigations is still laid on the forest 

 products side — which at one time was not even held germane to forestry — and 

 the silvicultural side is as yet not fully considered. Out of 162 listed problems 

 nearly one-half are occupied with forest products and less than 30 with real 

 forestry problems. 



"To my mind the most important knowledge we are lacking is how to solve 

 the silvicultural problems for our species, for our soils and climatic conditions, 

 for the reproduction of the timber we are cutting and for the recuperation of 

 our cut over and wasted forest lands in the East as well as in the West. When 

 we have learned this lesson, we may be justified in speaking of what the early 

 pioneers talked of too prematurely as 'American Forestry.' " 



Clapp, in a paper delivered at the same meeting.^ hit the nail on the 

 head when he said : 



"Scientific research is ... at the foundation of permanent forest de- 

 velopment in the United States." 



He urged three steps to advance the research work in this country : 

 (i) The publication by each research agency and organization of a 



- Barrington Moore : The Relation of Forestry to Science. Forestry Quarterly, 

 XIV : 3, pp. 375-9. 1916. 



" B. E. Fernow: The Situation. Journal of Forestry, XV: i, pp. 3-14, 1917. 



^ Earle H. Clapp : The Correlation of American Research. Journal of For- 

 estry, XV : 2, pp. 165-75, IQI7- 



