150 CANADIAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION 



THE PRESIDENT : We still have some time for tlie discussion of the 

 papers that have been presented. 



DR. FERNOW : It becomes necessary for me once more to arise and answer 

 a few strictures that have been made by Senator Edwards. (Laughter.) He 

 has used my name more often in vain than anybody else. I am gratified that 

 Senator Edwards agrees with me in all the essential points that I tried to 

 bring out. Wherever he disagrees it is due to the fact that Senator Edwards 

 is a theorist. (Laughter.) The Senator has not realized that every man is a 

 theorist as well as a practical man. (A voice "Good.") He is a practical 

 man in some things and a theorist in others. Now, I agree that the Senator 

 is a practical lumberman; but he is a theorist of the worst kind in Forestry. 

 (Laughter.) I am amused at these meetings I have attended them for the 

 last 25 or 30 years to see the science of Forestry born again and again. May 

 I call attention to the fact that whenever it comes to the practical side of 

 Forestry we don't need to hold any opinions yes, theories ; that was all done 

 a hundred years ago. It exists in other countries, in other parts. We have 

 not yet reached the stage of practical application to a large degree, but I can 

 assure the Senator that his theories will not hold water when they are applied. 

 I am emphatic on this question as to the difference between the theorist and 

 the practical man, because it hurts the work of this Association; it very 

 materially and improperly hurts the men who are now studying 

 the profession of Forestry; and it hurts the development of the 

 professional side of Forestry. Of course, the answer to the Sena- 

 tor's remarks that the lumberman is the only real forester is given at 

 once by the great paper Companies The Kiordan Paper Company and the 

 Laurentide Paper Company who don't employ the so-called "practical" 

 loggers, but call in the services of "theoretical" foresters. (Laughter.) 

 Mighty highly educated men, those paper makers that you must admit. 

 They require a great deal of intelligence to carry on a business like theirs, 

 and to realize results they are relying upon the raw material the perpetua- 

 tion of which is of great importance to them ; but for this purpose they do not 

 employ practical loggers. They always had loggers, but they have found out 

 that intelligence and honesty two qualities of a forester are required in 

 addition to the practical knowledge of the logger. Allow me to say, in pass- 

 ing, that practical men come from practising; and that any man who has 

 any intelligence with a l ; ttle knowledge added to it, is more likely to secure 

 practical knowledge than the man who has to learn from the bottom up and 

 take ten years where the intelligent, well-educated, instructed man will take 

 two years to acquire the same practical knowledge. (Applause.) Two of the 

 Senator's theories, perhaps, I should refer to. One is his idea of the rate of 

 growth. Now, that is not a matter of opinion ; that is a matter of reference. 

 Whenever there is a matter of reference to be settled, don't hold any opin- 

 ions ; go to the dictionary ; or, go to the place where the information is to be 

 found, and you will find that many things which you thought you had 

 invented, have already been investigated and settled. The rate of growth of 



