THE TRAINING OF A FORESTER 



Before we can understand forestry, cer- 

 tain facts about the forest itself must be 

 kept in mind. A forest is not a mere collec- 

 tion of individual trees, just as a city is not 

 a mere collection of unrelated men and 

 women, or a Nation like ours merely a cer- 

 tain number of independent racial groups. 

 A forest, like a city, is a complex community 

 with a life of its own. It has a soil and an 

 atmosphere of its own, chemically and physi- 

 cally different from any other, with plants 

 and shrubs as well as trees which are peculiar 

 to it. It has a resident population of inspects 

 and higher animals entirely distinct from 

 that outside. ^lost important of all, frt)m 

 the Forester's point of view, the members of 

 the forest live in an exact and intricate sys- 

 tem of competition and mutual assistance, 

 of help or harm, which extends to all the 

 inhabitants of this complicated city of 

 trees. 



14 



