

FORESTRY QUARTERLY 



Vol. XIV September, 1916 No. 3 



THE RELATION OF FORESTRY TO SCIENCE 

 By Barrington Moore* 



In every activity the point of view determines the nature of the 

 work and the accompHshment. What is our point of view toward 

 forest research; what constitutes forest research, and what are 

 its aims? 



Only recently, on this side of the Atlantic, every forester was 

 an investigator on his own account. Working under new and 

 unknown conditions it was felt to be the duty of every trained 

 man entering the woods to glean as much knowledge as he could 

 and to record this knowledge. His aim was the accumulation of 

 data which would form the basis of silvicultural practice. 



The facts so collected, incomplete and fragmentary, form the 

 groundwork of our silviculture. 



This collecting of information by observation, though still 

 going on, is giving way to more accurate methods, and the work 

 is being concentrated in the hands of specialists. Forest investi- 

 gation is becoming a distinct phase of forestry. There are prac- 

 titioners and there are investigators, as in medicine ; for one man 

 cannot do justice to both. Each kind of work requires its own 

 type of mind. 



This is the moment to decide what should be the nature and 

 aims of the work of forest investigators. It is agreed that the 

 ultimate aim should be the upbuilding of sound methods in all 

 lines of forestry. But what is our conception of the nature of 

 the work necessary to fulfill this aim? 



There are two distinct points of view. There is, first, the point 

 of view of the world at large, that research must aim at solving 

 some definite need of the community, research must be practical. 

 Secondly, there is the point of view of the scientist, who believes 

 ,— that research should seek fundamental knowledge. The acquisi- 



UJ 

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1 Private research, New York. 



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