1923] Research Program of Forest Experiment Station 71 



to west, six major topographic units : the Coastal Plain, the Piedmont 

 Plateau, the Southern Appalachian Mountains, the Appalachian Val- 

 ley, and the Cumberland and Alleghany highlands. This region of 

 about 185,000 square miles is bigger than the combined area of Penn- 

 sylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and New England. With 

 a range of 6,700 feet in altitude and 6 degrees of latitude, and a cor- 

 respondingly great climatic variation, there is an extreme diversity 

 of forest types and vegetation in general. The pine flats and overflow 

 lands of the Coastal Plain present problems very different from those 

 of the subalpine spruce forests of western North Carolina. Between 

 these two extremes there lies the whole of the great Appalachian hard- 

 wood region with its multiplicity of forest types and conditions. The 

 administrative difficulty of carrying on studies efficiently in this great 

 region, and with a technical staff of only four members, has led to a 

 policy of Avidespread cooperation . and the concentration of the work 

 as far as possible at definite regional centers. 



Before entering upon a discussion of the work of the station a few 

 words may be in order as to the general nature and object of forest 

 research. 



Forestry, being a use of land to produce timber crops, is a branch 

 of agriculture. Like agriculture, it is an art and a science, resting 

 upon other sciences — biology, geology, physics, chemistry, and mathe- 

 matics — for most of its basic data. As a special branch of agriculture, 

 as yet new and little tried in this country, it makes unique demands 

 upon scientific research. The essential differences between forestry 

 and other uses of the soil consist chiefly in the long time needed to 

 mature forests as compared with other crops, the variety of products 

 obtainable during the period in which the principal crop is maturing, 

 as well as at the time of the harvest, and the possibility of improving 

 the yield and reproducing the crop naturally by partial cuttings. 



The best management of forest lands for timber and other inci- 

 dental uses is predicated upon a thorough knowledge of a great 

 variety of conditions and processes. It is difficult to place these in 

 order of their relative importance because in different places each 

 may be of major importance. As a basic groundwork an intimate 

 knowledge of the life histories, characteristics, and requirements of 

 the various tree species is necessary. This has special reference to 

 their reproductive adaptations, soil and moisture requirements, rate 

 of growth, endurance of shade, and susceptibility to injuries of vari- 



