424 Forestry Quarterly 



By far the most important fact to be noted during the period 

 beginning in 1909 is the estabHsliment of 9 forest experiment stations 

 and one forest products laboratory by the Forest Service. This 

 date marks the beginning of the application of the principles and 

 methods of modern ecology to American silvical and silvicultural 

 problems and begins a new era for American silviculture. The crea- 

 tion of these stations has given a much needed impetus to the 

 investigative phases of forestry. Since they are scattered over the 

 western half of the United States, the work of these stations covers 

 a great many phases of silvicultural management and silvical 

 problems of an extremely varied character. Reforestration prob- 

 lems are taken up under seed testing, nursery work, and planting. 

 Of great present value are investigations in methods and systems 

 of cutting and the study of growth after cutting. The require- 

 ments of species and of the important forest types are being deter- 

 mined by systematic meteorological observations. Grazing inves- 

 tigations, being intimately wrapped up with a great national 

 industry are of special importance and have begun to receive the 

 attention which they deserve. A study of the ecological life 

 histories of grasses and other forage plants which grow on Western 

 grazing lands has been begun for the ultimate purpose of increasing 

 the carr3dng capacity of these lands. One of the largest tasks 

 undertaken by a single experiment station is the study in Colorado 

 of the influence of the denudation of a watershed by limibering 

 upon the flow of the streams within it. This problem is scheduled 

 to run over a period of years. In the main it is the purpose of these 

 stations to attempt to solve those problems which confront the 

 Forest Service on the various National Forests, hence they are of 

 an applied rather than a purely scientific character. 



The recent literature upon the subject includes ntimerous reports, 

 circulars, bulletins, etc., of a more or less silvical character by both 

 government and state bureaus dealing with the forests and with 

 forest conditions on government, state, and private lands. The 

 data so far published by the forest experiment stations is very 

 meager, being confined almost entirely to short contributions to 

 periodical literature. This lack of literature, however, is not due 

 to any lack of material but rather to a lack of facilities for having 

 this kind of work published. 



Some forest investigations have been carried on by plant ecolo- 

 gists at State Agricultural Experiment Stations, notably in Ver- 



