528 Forestry Quarterly. 



five years ago. Is there any standard to the size of a quarterly 

 publication and is there any virtue to a monthly magazine above 

 the quarterly? The reading capacity of the average subscriber 

 and the variety of interest represented and the activity of pro- 

 fessional development would appear factors which must play 

 part in answering the first question, as well as the character of 

 the contents. The average practicing forester can probably not 

 devote much more than 3 hours of professional reading, if that 

 much, per week, and if he wants to digest and think over what 

 he has read, he will be satisfied with say 200 pages a year. 

 Whether this be presented in four instalments or in twelve, does 

 it matter from the standpoint of the reader, and from the stand- 

 point of editor and publisher? We would like to hear from 

 readers whether they would prefer 100 pages every month, or 

 300 pages every quarter. 



To us, it would seem to be somewhat as the diflference between 

 a book and a magazine, a more serious attitude towards the 

 bulkier, a less intent consideration of the smaller issue. And 

 this difference of attitude would also likely develop in the con- 

 tents a more ephemeral, less solid supply of matter; for the 

 editor a more strenuous time to get copy ready. Indeed, what 

 can now be done by a few devoted unpaid devotees would have 

 to be done by paid employees with financial backing. Yet, as the 

 profession grows not only in numbers but in diversity of occu- 

 pation and interests, literary as well as practical, and especially 

 in lively activity, we expect to see our quarterly superseded by a 

 monthly in the natural development of events. 



