ADMINISTRATION 83 



THE ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF FOREST EXPERI- 

 MENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS 



The Need of Scientific Experiments. No sci- 

 ence can make progress without intensive experi- 

 ments and investigations, least of all a new science 

 like forestry. The science of forestry as it has 

 developed in Europe is several hundred years old, 

 but the science of forestry as applied to American 

 conditions is still in the infancy of its development 

 probably not over 20 years old. Therefore we 

 know very little about our trees, our forests, and the 

 wood which they produce, and the professional for- 

 esters who handle the scientific work on our 

 National Forests are very much handicapped. To 

 supply the needed information about the require- 

 ments of many of our tree species, the uses to which 

 their wood can be put, and many other related sub- 

 jects, the Forest Service has established 8 Forest 

 Experiment Stations (recently reduced to 6) and 

 one Forest Products Laboratory. It has become 

 the business of these institutions to study the laws 

 governing the life of the tree and the forest and 

 their effect upon the final product wood. The 

 Experiment Stations are working on the solution of 



