1090 



Canadian Forestry Journal, May, 1917 



meetings are also invited professors 

 of forest schools and specialists in 

 allied lines of research such as plant 

 physiology, ecology and meteorology. 

 At this meeting the work of the past 

 year and plans for the next year are 

 discussed, the studies to be carried on 

 for the next year are decided upon and 

 allotments of funds are made for each 

 project. 



United States' Attitude 



The United States has an area 

 about equal to Canada and forests of 

 somewhat greater extent and value. 

 That country however had not pro- 

 ceeded far in organizing for the 

 proper management of the forests 

 before it found that there was not 

 sufficient knowledge of the principles 

 that underlay the development of the 

 forest or the influences that affected 

 it. Provision has therefore been 

 made on a fairly large scale for the 

 study of the forest by the establish- 

 ment of nine Forest Experiment 

 Stations, the maintenance of which 

 requires an expenditure of $215,000 

 per annum. This is in addition to the 

 Forest Products Laboratory at Madi- 

 son, which deals with the wood after 

 production and removal from the 

 forest, the appropriation for which is 

 $180,000 per annum. 



The following from the Review of 

 Forest Investigations by the Forest 

 Service of the United States, is 

 quoted: — 



"The experimental work as now 

 conducted at the Forest experiment 

 stations is by far the most important. 

 For the last few years it has been felt 

 that only by well-ordered experiments 

 can empirical procedure be replaced 

 by truly scientific procedure. 



Hoiv U. S. Scheme Works ■ 

 "Advantages of economy and great- 

 er efficiency in conducting investi- 

 gative work in silviculture at an 

 experiment station are apparent. 

 Under the old system of conducting 

 investigative work, assignments to 

 an extensive area were usually neces- 

 sary, to which the observer could 

 devote but a short field season. Under 

 the system of Forest experiment 

 stations, specially trained men are 

 permanently assigned to a given 

 region with which they have an op- 



portunity to become thoroughly 

 familiar and therefore are capable of 

 conducting the work with the greatest 

 effectiveness and least expense. Each 

 of the experiment stations is allotted 

 an area sufficient for the proper 

 handling of short-period experiments, 

 for experiments requiring a number of 

 years, and for the maintenance of 

 large permanent sample areas which 

 serve as models typical of the silvi- 

 cultural region. Such areas furnish 

 the most valuable, instructive, and 

 convincing object lessons for the 

 public in general, for professional 

 foresters, lumbermen, and owners of 

 forest land, and especially for the 

 technical and administrative officers 

 of the National Forests. 



"The organization of the Forest 

 experiment stations made possible 

 the use of uniform methods in dealing 

 with forest problems. General pro- 

 blems are treated at the different 

 stations simultaneously; local pro- 

 blems in the region to which their 

 results apply. AH of the modifying 

 factors which enter into the results 

 of experiments are measured by ob- 

 servations covering many conditions 

 and years and are thus determined 

 once for all wdth the greatest economy 

 and the least duplication of w^ork. 



"The stations are distributed in 

 such a way that one station is located 

 in each of the silvicultural regions of 

 the West. A single Forest, repre- 

 senting as much as possible the con- 

 ditions typical of the region, is selected 

 and a portion of this area set aside for 

 the purposes of the experiment 

 station." 



Export Trade in Timber 



In Canada the forest resources of 

 the country have been one of the 

 great wealth producing factors. Pro- 

 duction is urged on the country as a 

 national duty and particularly pro- 

 duction for export so that Canada 

 may in this way meet the great debt 

 which the war requires her to under- 

 take when the production of the 

 forest is looked at from this point of 

 view. The figures of the total pro- 

 duction from the forests have not 

 been obtained in a sufficiently ac- 

 curate way to give a reliable state- 

 ment for any lengthened period. For 



