THE BIOLOGY OF LODGEPOLE PINE AS REVEALED BY 

 THE BEHAVIOR OF ITS SEED^ 



By Carlos G. Bates 

 Forest Bxaminer, Forest Service, Derujuer, Colo. 



In again bringing up a subject which has been so much written of, 

 I have a threefold object, namely, to make my hearers somewhat 

 famihar with the nature of investigations which are being conducted 

 by the Forest Service, to suggest a slightly new viewpoint in the treat- 

 ment of bionomic studies, and, least of all, to pretend to add a mite to 

 our knowledge of the fundamental facts regarding lodgepole pine. 



The first object is not one of propagandism. However, some 

 friendly critics of the Forest Service have recently, consciously or 

 unconsciously, conveyed the idea that forest investigations at present 

 are not producing a proper quota of fundamental data, usable as the 

 foundation of scientific silvicultural practice. Notable among recent 

 articles in this tenor are Dr. Fernow's^ "Suggestions as to Possibilities 

 of Silviculture in America" and Barrington Moore's^ "Relation of 

 Forestry to Science." I must confess to feelings, at times, entirely in 

 keeping with the ideas expressed by them. It has struck me that our 

 experimentation has been of too limited a scope, representing, as it so 

 often does, a purely local test of the "best method" of performing 

 some silvicultural operation. This is true of nearly all of our work in 

 reforestation, natural regeneration, and thinnings. Yet, I think it is 

 erroneous to assume that because the working plans for these investi- 

 gations carefully avoid any mention of the broader principles at stake, 

 the results will fail to bring out the fundamental data that truly scien- 

 tific foresters want and must certainly have. I think you will agree 

 with me that, in general, scientific principles and specific biological 

 characters are to be established not by assuming an hypothesis and 

 searching for proof of it, but by free-minded analysis of all the data 

 bearing on the point, from all possible sources, each of which must 



1 Presented at the New York meeting of the Society, December 29, 1916. 



"Femow, Dr. B. E., "Suggestions as to Possibilities of Silviculture in America." 

 Proc. Soc. Am. For., XI, 2. 



M Moore, Barrington, "The Relation of Forestry to Science." For. Quarterly, 

 XIV, 3. 



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