2IO TRANSACTIONS OF ROYAL SCOTTISH ARBORICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



30. The Biological Basis of Forestry. 



By A. S. Watt. 



There is, at the present time, in process of fulfilment what 

 has been the long-cherished dream of many, who, having at 

 heart not only the material and the social, but the intellectual 

 and aesthetic advancement of the nation, have laboured long 

 and tirelessly both in urging our political leaders and in educat- 

 ing the people towards the adoption by the country of a sound 

 scheme of forestry. The moulding of the still plastic subject, 

 the success of its future, where the bad effects of a scheme 

 are not obliterated by a decade, but are handed on as un- 

 desirable heirlooms from generation to generation of foresters, 

 require a length and clarity of vision and an intimate 

 acquaintance with fundamental principles in order to reduce 

 to a minimum the evil resulting from the application of 

 imperfect knowledge, and to perpetuate the applied science of 

 forestry upon a scientific as well as upon a sound economic 

 basis. 



The necessity for building on solid foundations will be 

 evident to the inquirer, who has but to reflect upon the length 

 of life of the individual tree, the initial expenditure involved 

 in planting, and the far-distant day of realisation of his capital. 

 An initial error of magnitude on the part of the forester means 

 the difference between hopeless bankruptcy and the return of 

 capital with interest. It is incumbent on the forester, therefore, 

 to avoid as far as possible even small mistakes, to build the 

 superstructure which he hands on to his successor upon a firm 

 foundation. 



In the modern world many industries look to the forest and 

 ultimately to the individual tree to satisfy their varied demands. 

 The central object of study, therefore, must be the tree not as 

 an isolated and separate entity, an organism apart, but the tree 

 in its structure, its functions and its relation to its environment, 

 animate or inanimate. From the time of Liebig, when agri- 

 cultural chemistry was the be-all and end-all of agricultural 

 science, we have advanced considerably not by discarding the 

 results of chemical and physical studies, but by elevating the 

 plant to premier consideration, by focussing the information 

 derived from the various departments of knowledge upon the 



