62 Forestry Quarterly 



ter. This is nearly always a grave error. The physical effort 

 which the forester has to make hardens a healthy body and makes 

 it still more vigorous, but that effort is generally beyond the 

 strength of a man of feeble constitution who cannot keep it up 

 for a long time. 



It is a beautiful profession, that of the forester, without doubt. 

 Those who love the stands of timber and interest hemselves in 

 them, who feel the poetic charm of the life in the woods and 

 know how to accommodate themselves to the simplicity which it 

 requires, would not now change it for any other. A fountain 

 of youth for those who have to manage the forest and live there. 

 The forest is to such a one the source of emotions always fresh, 

 the dispenser of energy of which the forester often has need in 

 order to struggle against the difficulties which he meets as an 

 official. That is a happy thing, for — it is necessary to say it — there 

 is no other profession or group of officials among us, which has 

 had to struggle against so many prejudices and suffer from so 

 many adversaries. This is particularly true in the mountain 

 regions. The population there, habituated at all times to the use 

 and abuse of the woods freely, have considered the interference 

 of the federal administration in their forest domain as a restric- 

 tion of their rights. If the force of the ill humor of the moun- 

 taineers has made itself felt against the forest officials charged 

 with the application of the new law that is nothing but human. 

 Alas, there was a time when it was the proper thing — not only 

 in the newspapers but even in the halls of the Grand Council — 

 to talk against "the green bailiffs," and we pass over in silence 

 the numerous personal insults, the intentional depredations on 

 forest plantations and on other important works. 



It is possible to say now that the first discontent has been to 

 some extent appeased and that the people judge the situation in 

 a more equitable fashion. They can now take note of the utility 

 of the action of the forest service, of the zeal and of the dis- 

 interestedness of which it has made proof. We must recognize 

 also that here and there some foresters have shown excess of 

 zeal, and in their desire to move quickly have not given suffi- 

 cient consideration to old customs and established habits. 



To these strugglers of the early days for a cause of public 

 usefulness we bring the expression of our gratitude. There is 

 probably not a single other domain where it has been necessary 



