594 Forestry Quarterly 



to favor, it should certainly have been pointed out that it is based 

 on the false premise that wood capitals behave like money capitals, 

 hence a caution as to its application should have been extended. 



The book contains pretty nearly all that the German textbooks 

 as a rule discuss, the one omission that we have noticed, but which is 

 also noticeable in German books, is a full chapter on increment, 

 which to us seems to belong here as an important basis for budget 

 regulation. On closer study we might perhaps find other defects, 

 but the value of the book lies, as we have accentuated, in its 

 thoroughly practical aspects and originality of treatment, and 

 must not be judged by pedantic standards. 



There are, however, some points on the literary side which we 

 feel bound not to overlook. While the straightforward and uncon- 

 ventional or informal, sometimes breezy language for which the 

 author is noted, has its attractions, especially in the spoken dis- 

 course, we are old-fashioned enough to take lunbrage at its too 

 free use in print. Here, literary style and more polished diction 

 is indicated ; especially in a book intended for students, carelessness 

 in this respect is imfortunate. This lack of attention to form is 

 also painfully noticeable in other directions, as for instance on the 

 same page we may find written Lodge Pole and lodgepole, and 

 that with the "pine" left out. 



Altogether, we may take this occasion to inveigh against the 

 malpractice in the use of capitals, which has become a besetting 

 sin of American foresters, and is found in a pronotmced manner 

 in this book, in which every word that approaches the meaning 

 of a forestry term is capitalized, like "Wild Woods," "Protection," 

 "Utilization," "Silviculture," "Forest," "Forester," "Forestry" 

 and "Forestry Business," "Market" "Site," "Species," "Rotation," 

 etc. Proper usage is to capitalize when a title is to be indicated, 

 like a National Forest, when a specially designated tract is to be 

 named; the Forester, a title of an official ; a coiu-se on Utilization, a 

 title of the course. Decapitalization is the general tendency of the 

 present day, but we believe that the retention of capitals to desig- 

 nate titles is useful. We may not go into the doubtful usage as to 

 capitalization of genus and species names of trees, except to an- 

 nounce that we believe ease of reading — ^which is the object of 

 print — ^makes it desirable to capitalize at least the species name 

 and write "White pine," in order to make its term quality at once 

 apparent to the eye. 



