36 EDUCATION IN FORESTRY. 



leaves the tree till it reaches the ultimate consumer. No one questions the 

 need of technical knowledge in the production and use of steel or concrete ; 

 yet wood, being more complex, is more difficult to handle efficiently than either 

 of these. It is inconceivable that the industries using wood, with their 

 hundreds of millions of dollars of invested capital, will not turn more and 

 more to technically trained men to handle the infinite number of problems 

 ronnected with its most effective manufacture, utilization, and sale. 



The industries themselves are just beginning to realize this need. Last fall, 

 for example, Mr. Thomas D. Perry, vice president and general manager of the 

 Grand Rapids Veneer Works, called attention to the need for technical infor- 

 mation and technically trained men in a half dozen or more representative 

 industries. Among other things he said : 



It is doubtful whether any other major group of modern manufacturers gives 

 evidence of less scientific knowledge of its products. * * * A survey, no 

 matter how superficial, would demonstrate that while the woodworker may not 

 have needed the engineer in the past, he certainly needs him now. It 



follows, therefore, that if the woodworking industry and the engineering 

 profession are to be of mutual benefit a broader aspect and a complete readjust- 

 ment of attitude are necessary. * * * The field for the engineer in wood- 

 working is almost unlimited, but the development of such a new and untried 

 line will take education, patience, and adaptability on the part of all who are 

 vitally interested in the trades that employ so large a proportion of our citizens. 



As a result of this address the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 

 at its meeting in New York earlier this month, held a " forest products session " 

 devoted to the woodworking phases of engineering. 



Granting, then, the need for technically trained men in the wood-using indus- 

 tries, the question arises as to the particular form which this training should 

 take. So far, both the Forest Service and the industries themselves have, per- 

 force, turned to men trained primarily as engineers, chemists, or foresters, 

 because jao other type of man was available. These men have unquestionably 

 rendered valuable service. In doing so, however, they have practically all 

 been laboring under a distinct handicap, the engineers and chemists because 

 they knew little or nothing of botany and forestry, the foresters because they 

 knew too little of engineering and chemistry. In the judgment of this com- 

 mittee, what is needed is a technologist who knows trees and their products 

 from the biological as well as from the engineering and chemical standpoint, 

 and who is able to connect the industrial aspects of wood utilization with the 

 fundamentals of forest practice and forest conservation. 



Wood is an organic product. As such, a knowledge of its composition and 

 structure, of the life processes by which it is produced and of the influence of 

 environment on its physical, mechanical, and chemical properties is essential 

 to its most efficient utilization. From an industrial standpoint, a knowledge 

 of the commercial distribution of the important species of trees, of the effect 

 of different methods of forest management on the character and quantity of 

 material produced, and of the relation between the practice of forestry and the 

 maintenance of an adequate supply of wood as a raw material is equally essen- 

 tial. From whatever angle one approaches the question he finds himself led 

 sooner or later to the living tree and to the forest. 



A few specific examples may help to make clearer this interrelation between 

 the biological and physical sciences. Take, for example, timber seasoning. 

 On the face of it this is an engineering problem involving simply the removal of 

 \\aifL- from the wood. The most elementary work, however, makes it apparent 

 that the method by which this removal can be effected to best advantage 

 depends to a very large degree on the structure of the wood, and this in turn 



