PREFACE 



IN the following pages I have endeavoured to write such 

 a treatise on Forestry as will be found of universal use to 

 Landowners, Land Agents, and all Students of the science 

 of Forestry. 



It is very necessary to realise that a complete knowledge 

 of the correct practice of Forestry can only be obtained by 

 approaching the subject from a scientific attitude. 



There are many able foresters whose only school has 

 been that of the lonely woodlands, but their ability is, 

 nevertheless, the result of an unconscious scientific study. 



There is, however, a species of humanity a class of self- 

 styled experts who advertise as being practical authorities 

 on Forestry matters, and who boast that they eschew all 

 that is scientific, but whose only passport is, in reality, that 

 of garrulous ignorance, and an overweening confidence in 

 their own inability. I cannot too strongly warn my readers 

 against attaching any importance to the remarks or advice 

 of such men as these. 



Now, whereas in the cultivation of field crops, a consider- 

 able degree of proficiency may be acquired in an empiric 

 manner, by merely watching the results of one's own practice, 

 and without availing oneself of the lessons learnt by others, 

 yet, in the case of Forestry, such would be impossible, for 

 the life of mankind is far too short to admit of acquiring a 

 complete knowledge of Forestry without studying the results 

 of the actions of others, both of the present and past 

 generations, and endeavouring to draw correct conclusions 

 from observations so made. 



