Forest Experiment Station. 217 



the station should be called away for a month during the field 

 season, satisfactory progress would be practically impossible 

 without complete plans for ever>' line of work. The working 

 plan for each project should be revised each winter, indicating 

 all changes in the previous plan with respect to time and extent 

 of operations, location of plots, and other details which may 

 change from year to year. To guard against overlooking details 

 at the proper time, a summarized schedule of operations should 

 be made up for each project. In addition, a schedule showing 

 the work planned for all projects at different times through the 

 year is recommended. 



The director of a station may frequently be called upon to 

 make minor modifications in his plans. Perhaps the work out- 

 lined for a certain period is found too heavy, and then he must 

 decide what work can be deferred and when it can be done to the 

 best advantage. Climatic conditions or other circumstances may 

 arise which render it advisable to defer or omit entirely certain 

 operations, or to add others not provided for in the plan. Ob- 

 viously, the number of changes which become necessary in the 

 execution of the plan is determined to a great extent by the 

 amount of forethought exercised by the writer of the plan and his 

 knowledge of the conditions under which it is to be carried out. 



The preceding statements apply to experiment stations under 

 present conditions. As scientific standards rise, more responsi- 

 bility will be placed upon individual investigators, with a corre- 

 sponding decrease in supervision. 



Personnel. The general qualifications required of the scien- 

 tific staff of an experiment station are much the same as for 

 other forest officers. Until recently it seems to have been taken 

 for granted that a Forest Assistant who showed any scientific 

 inclination, even though he failed generally in the usual work 

 on a National Forest, was qualified for scientific work. For- 

 tunately, this impression is being corrected. Men of poor ad- 

 ministrative ability or unfortunate personality may be well fitted 

 for certain kinds of scientific work, but the man who fails in 

 National Forest work through lack of character, industry or 

 mental capacity will also fail at an experiment station. An un- 

 derstanding of National Forest work and the aims and problems 

 of the Service is of great value to every man engaged in scientific 

 work, and at least one year's service on a National Forest should 



