PREFACE 



A KNOWLEDGE of theoretical forestry is as indispensable to 

 an American forest student as it is to the man of any other 

 country who may adopt forestry as his profession. But to be 

 useful such knowledge must be applied with judgment. The 

 pure theory of forestry needs for its unfolding and embodiment 

 conditions which are likewise theoretically perfect. The skill 

 of the trained forester consists not in the mere application of a 

 formula, but in modifying what is ideally correct into what 

 is practically desirable. As in every other sphere of human 

 endeavor, what is actually possible in the practice of forestry 

 differs very widely from what ought to be possible, but is not. 

 Successful practice, in the large, is never theoretically perfect, 

 and this is most emphatically true in the lands where forestry 

 is new. 



American foresters have very much to learn from the in- 

 tensive methods of forest management and forest production 

 on the Continent of Europe, and particularly in France, Ger- 

 many, Austria, and Switzerland. Here the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of theoretical forestry may best be studied, and the best 

 examples of their application to conditions on the ground are 

 most readily examined. 



In his effort to ascertain how best to harmonize the search 

 for perfection with the successful achievement of practical 

 results, there is no guide so valuable to the forester as the ex- 

 perience of others under conditions which are at least partially 

 similar. But the experience of others can serve us as a model 

 only when the work done rests on knowledge so pertinent and 

 skill so sure that their combined effect results in elasticity and 

 boldness in fitting means to ends; otherwise the lessons to be 



