THE RESEARCH PROGRAM OF THE APPALACHIAN 

 FOREST EXPERIMENT STATION 



By E. H. Frothingham 



Among papers devoted almost wholly to explicit results of research, 

 such as appear on the program of this meeting, one like the present, 

 which is merely an announcement of research in progress or planned, 

 might appear somewhat out of place. Yet the accession of any new 

 investigative organization ought to be of interest to scientists in all 

 fields. The work of the Appalachian Forest Experiment Station M'ill 

 touch at so many points the investigations of various members of this 

 Academy that a knowledge of the purpose and outlook of the new 

 station should be of mutual benefit. Very little can be conveyed in a 

 short discussion. The aim of this paper is therefore merely to sketch 

 the high points of the work of the station and its background of forest 

 research, with the hope of establishing a helpful contact with the 

 members of the Academy. 



Although forest research has long held a recognized and estab- 

 lished position in Europe, it is still young in this country. It was 

 only fifteen years ago that the hopelessness of attempting forest rais- 

 ing in America without well established principles, based upon 

 American conditions, caused the establishment by the U. S. Forest 

 Service of its first forest experiment station. Six of these are now in 

 existence in widely separated parts of the country and, as evidence of 

 the growing recognition of such institutions, two more are to be in- 

 stalled in July. The stations are so located, with respect to the prin- 

 cipal forest regions, that each has before it a distinct group of vegeta- 

 tional and environmental conditions, usually very different from those 

 of the other stations. Yet there is a similarity in the problems en- 

 countered which allows of a general classification. 



The Appalachian Forest Experiment Station was established in 

 1921, with headquarters at Asheville, North C arolina. It has perhaps 

 the most varied and complicated field for investigation of any of the 

 forest experiment stations. Its territory extends south from Penn- 

 sylvania to northern Georgia and Alabama, and embraces from east 



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