NEW VIEW POINTS IN SILVICULTURE. 

 By Raphaei. Zon. 



In a sense Professor Mayr's last book on Silviculture*, which 

 has drawn considerable attention from the forester world abroad, 

 does not contain anything new to those who are familiar with his 

 earlier writings, such as "Waldungen von Nord America," 

 "Fremdlandische Wald and Parkbdume fur Europa," and his ar- 

 ticles in the periodical literature. In this new book, however, 

 are brought together all the facts and his conclusions, and, there- 

 fore, a better opportunity is afforded to grasp fully the point of 

 view of the author. 



The greatest service rendered by Prof. Mayr to silviculture 

 lies not in facts and conclusions advanced by him, but in the 

 entirely new point of view, and in the new method of dealing 

 with silvicultural problems. Silviculture, until a comparatively 

 recent time, consisted chiefly of pure empiricism, of rules and 

 regulations based on the experience of practitioners. There was 

 very little attempt to study silvicultural results in the light of 

 the physical factors which produced them. While one finds in 

 the old handbooks on silviculture hints as to the influence of 

 climate upon forest vegetation, they do not go very far and the 

 books deal as a rule chiefly with statements of silvicultural facts 

 which take place in the forest, without taking into account at all 

 the medium, the soil, and the atmosphere which condition the 

 biological peculiarities of the forest. 



Silviculture based only on experience, no matter how valuable 

 the experience, could not become a science in the true sense. 

 Prof. Mayr was one of the few foresters who helped to estab- 

 lish silviculture on a scientific foundation. All his works are 

 marked with an attempt to understand and interpret silvicultural 

 problems as a result of the climatic factor. Climate is at the bot- 

 tom of all his explanations of biological differences in stands 

 which grow in different places, as well as of the application of 

 different silvicultural methods. One must be careful not to ac- 



Waldbau auf naturgesetzlicher Grundlage. Ein Lehr-und Handbuch, 

 bearbeitet von Heinrich Mayr. Berlin, Paul Parey, igog. 



