144 ECONOMICS OF FORESTRY. 



of animals or even of fruit-trees. Acclimatization, 

 so called, in forestry is, therefore, practically con- 

 fined to overcoming merely the mechanical barri- 

 ers of distribution, i.e. to transport the species, 

 where its means of transportation fail, and to 

 give it a chance of showing its adaptation or lack 

 of it. 



As a rule, the forester relies on the species 

 which he finds in the locality in which he is to 

 operate, and introduces from outside only species 

 which he has strong reasons to believe are adapted 

 to his locality, and at the same time promise de- 

 cided advantage over the native ones either in 

 quality or quantity of product or in other silvi- 

 cultural qualities. 



Nor has much attempt been made to improve 

 on the quality of the wood as nature produces it. 

 While in agricultural products nature has been 

 improved upon in nearly every case, in forest 

 products very little attention has been given to 

 this subject. 



The forester, more than the agriculturist, follows 

 and imitates the processes of nature ; all that he 

 attempts is to direct them to produce, in a degree, 

 better form and larger quantity of the better kinds 

 which he finds on hand. 



While the presence of a species in the composi- 

 tion of the natural forest is, in the first place, due 

 to climatic and soil conditions, its numerical dis- 

 tribution and the manner of its occurrence in the 



