30 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
maaufacture of woods and wood products ; and various topics of Inquiry — 
tliat have relation to this subject. 
Passing from these studies of the sciences of exact observation to 
those of a business-like character, there are from time to time brought 
forward new methods of working and management, which are urged 
upon the public under an interest that seeks profit from their use. It is 
unfortunate that these novelties have not always the merit which they 
claim, and that while some are really worthy of public attention, there - 
are others that deserve no notice. A discriminating and impartial state- 
ment of what is really worthy of notice might prevent imconsiderate 
investments in others that are not. It would be especially desirable to 
know concisely the results reached by commissions appointed from time | 
to time for testing alleged discoveries or new methods, as is done more 
or less every year by various European governments and by commis- 
sions appointed by learned societies. 
In almost every country in Europe, but eapecialie in Germany, asso- 
ciations of foresters have been formed, solely for the discussion of ques- | 
tions of professional interest. If a new disease or injury to young seed- 
lings, or to nurseries or plantations of larger growth, has appeared, all 
experience is combined and all science is exhausted in the discovery of 
its cause and in the application of the remedies. The comparative merits 
of methods of culture and management, the effect of fertilizers, and the 
various circumstances that can be controlled, so far as they affect the 
interest under protection, are fully discussed and compared. Most of — 
these associations publish annually, or more frequently, the results of 
their labors, and not a little of these would be useful, if known to our 
people. The meeting of German foresters at Dresden during the last 
summer has been mentioned as one of unusual interest. 
The number of publications devoted to various questions specially 
relating to Forestry that appear every year in Europe, besides those 
already referred to, is large. In Germany alone the number is some- 
times a hundred a year. Not a few of these possess unusual interest, 
and the best results of these labors in the field of scientific research or 
applied knowledge shoukl be known wherever they can be applied. . In 
fact, we cannot afford to let these new principles pass unobserved and 
unapplied while so much can be saved or gained by availing ourselves 
of their use. 
Turning from this field of experimental inquiry and observation in 
foreign countries to our own, we have in various sections of the country, 
but especially in the prairie regions of the West, a large amount of use- 
ful observation every year accumulating, which should be gathered up 
and made known. It should be remarked that every new discovery is 
not valuable, nor will what may be applicable in one region be useful 
to another. This negative knowledge is often of great value by prevent- 
ing unwise investment and consequent losses; as, for example, in at- 
tempting to cultivate in one locality some species that has proved highly 
successful in another, where a full knowledge of all the conditions requi- 
