HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 11 



must earn regular dividends and manage their holdings 

 for present rather than future revenue. None of these 

 drawbacks apply to state or national governments, whose 

 interests are perpetual. 



Enough has been said to show that the raising of tim- 

 ber crops is a matter which ultimately concerns not merely 

 individuals as such but the whole public, as acting through 

 the government. Even the private efforts to grow timber 

 need the encouragement of the government, both in educa- 

 tional lines and in protective measures, such as fire laws. 



HI. THE SCOPE OF FORESTS Y AS A PROFESSION. 



A study of forestry or the training of a professional 

 forester will include all the main aspects of forestry. These 

 are 



1. Political and economic. 



2. Technical. 



3. Business. 



The political and economic side deals with the rela- 

 tions that forests bear to the public. The amount of stand- 

 ing timber and forest areas, the uses of timber and possi- 

 bilities of using substitutes are studied. The actual rela- 

 tions of forests to climate and water are investigated. The 

 laws bearing on forests and forest protection, and the pol- 

 icy of governments, must be understood. Without a firm 

 grip on the essentials of forest policy, the forester is poorly 

 prepared for this work, especially in a country such as ours, 

 where so much remains to be done, the forester's chief duty 

 may well be to secure proper laws and a progressive and 

 stable forest policy before he undertakes much along the 

 line of timber production. 



The technical side of forestry calls for the application 

 of scientific and practical knowledge of the growth of trees, 

 the knowledge of how to get results and avoid failures. A 

 crop failure is a more serious matter when the growth of 



