CHAPTER XX 



FOREST RESEARCH 



1. GENERAL 



Research may be described as the systematic study of certain 

 phenomena by the experimental or investigative method. From a 

 broad viewpoint, this nation is still in the infancy of knowledge re- 

 garding many aspects of forestry and forest products. We know 

 relatively little of the silvicultural requirements of trees and the part 

 they play in tree associations. We know comparatively little about 

 wood and its multiple physical and chemical characteristics. Al- 

 though trees, forests, and wood are commonplace things in our daily 

 lives, and much study has been given them, an exact and scientific 

 knowledge of their relationship to our national welfare is still rela- 

 tively little understood. 



Research has been conducted largely by our federal agencies, 

 universities, colleges, and private industries and individuals. Large 

 industrial groups, such as those engaged in the manufacture of auto- 

 mobiles, chemicals, clothing, iron and its many by-products, electric 

 devices, and telephones, maintain large, well-equipped research de- 

 partments. The efficient growth of forests and the adequate utiliza- 

 tion of forest products are matters of such wide public concern that 

 federal agencies have taken the leadership in forest research. In fact, 

 from the very earliest organization of our federal forestry agencies, 

 research has been one of the principal activities. For many years 

 prior to the creation and organization of our National Forests, re- 

 search was one of the most important aspects of the forestry move- 

 ment. This continued. until 1915, when the branch of research was 

 established in the U. S. Foreign Service by the then chief forester, 

 Henry S. Graves. The general expressed purpose was the greater 

 efficiency of the three main departmental activities of the Forest Ser- 

 vice, namely, those dealing with regulation, research, and extension. 

 It became recognized that the great responsibility and objective of the 

 Forest Service was to secure the complete use of all the forest lands 

 of the country and of their products. 



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