CHAPTER VII 



SYSTEMATIC FORESTRY 



FORESTRY is an art or a collection of rules of 

 applied sagacity. It is incorrect to say that 

 there is a science of forestry. We do not talk 

 of the science of making anything. Success 

 depends on close attention to the different cir- 

 cumstances of each woodland and the applica- 

 tion with intelligence of practical rules. Success 

 may in certain cases be obtained by blind un- 

 reasoning routine founded on certain traditionary 

 empirical maxims and on mechanical copying 

 of established processes, but under these cir- 

 cumstances success is always uncertain. 



The object of this chapter is to show in what 

 way the practical rules of forestry are discovered, 

 and what they are. Forestry is an art which 

 does not admit of a high degree of accuracy, 

 for the conditions under which it exists are 

 ever varying and to a great extent beyond 

 control. 



Forestry, like agriculture, is an artificial, not 



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