207] Government Forestry Alroaii. 23 



formality which a superficial observation may believe 

 it sees. It is equally true that its methods could not 

 be transported unchanged into our forests without 

 entailing discouragement and failure, just as our 

 methods of lumbering would be disastrous there; but 

 the principles which underlie not only German, but 

 all rational forest management, are true all the world 

 over. It was in accordance with them that the for- 

 ests of British India were taken in hand and are now 

 being successfully managed, but the methods into 

 which the same principles have developed are as 

 widely dissimilar as the countries in which they are 

 being applied. So forest management in America 

 must be worked out along lines which the conditions 

 of our life will prescribe. It never can be a techni- 

 cal imitation of that of any other country, and a 

 knowledge of forestry abroad will be useful and 

 necessary rather as matter for comparison than as a 

 guide to be blindly obeyed. 



It must be suited not only to the peculiarities of 

 our national character, but also to the climate, soil 

 and timber of each locality, to the facilities for trans- 

 portation, the relations of supply and demand, and 

 the hundred other factors which go to make up the 

 natural character of a hillside, a county, or a State. 

 Its details cannot be laid down ex cathedra, but must 

 spring from a thorough acquaintance with the theory 

 of forestry, combined with exhaustive knowledge of 

 local conditions. It will necessarily lose the for- 

 mality and minuteness which it has acquired in coun- 

 tries of older and denser settlement, and will take on 

 the character of largeness and efficiency, which has 

 placed the methods of American lumbermen, in their 

 own sphere, far beyond all competitors. 



