Febeuaey 13, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



269 



from 1850 to 1895 it rose nearly fifty per cent. 

 None the less no business realizes more than 

 the forestry business that time is money, and 

 time is what the small capitalist does not 

 have. Since the crop is so long making — 75 

 to 150 years — it is a business for the state 

 and large corporations, rather than for the 

 individual, in most cases. 



The natural history of the forest is clearly 

 and instructively discussed in the light of 

 certain well-known factors influencing tree 

 growth, and emphasis is laid on the capital 

 fact that the whole art of forestry, in its tech- 

 nical as well as its financial results, is based 

 upon the knowledge and application of the 

 laws of accretion. The growth of the indi- 

 vidual tree, as well as the growth of the whole 

 stand of trees, in quantity and form is subject 

 to laws which can be formulated. The state- 

 ment of these laws and their application is of 

 much interest, but must be omitted from 

 present consideration, as must the subject of 

 silviculture from its professional standpoint. 

 This latter, however, includes various impor- 

 tant suggestions which shoidd be heeded by the 

 would-be reformer, among them measures for 

 reducing the danger from fires. 



The chapter on principles and methods of 

 forest policy is one that it will weU repay, not 

 only the student, but every thoughtful citizen 

 to read and ponder. It is shown that the 

 forest cover bears a peculiar relation to na- 

 tional prosperity, and that its continuity calls 

 for specially active interest by the conununity 

 at large, and by its representative, the state. 

 This is apparent when it is considered that the 

 forest is a natural resource which furnishes in 

 very large quantities materials almost as need- 

 ful as food, and that it forms a soil cover 

 which influences, both directly and at a dis- 

 tance, conditions of water flow, soil and local 

 climate, thereby affecting in a most intimate 

 way the financial, sanitary and social interests 

 of the commonwealth. Since, then, the pri- 

 vate capitalist is interested primarily in get- 

 ting the largest present profit, the care for the 

 future necessarily devolves on the state, and 

 the state must interfere, wherever the inter- 

 ests of the future clearly demand it. 



But what form shall this interference take? 



The answer, according to Dr. Fernow, will 

 vary according to our conceptions of govern- 

 ment functions, according to practical con- 

 siderations of expediency, and according to 

 the character and location of the forest areas. 

 The exercise of providential functions on the 

 part of the state is regarded as a self-evident, 

 logical sequence of the state idea everywhere, 

 but the manner and extent of exercising these 

 functions must vary. In the densely popu- 

 lated monarchical countries of Europe, with 

 relatively scanty resources, a much more di- 

 rect and strict interference is called for than 

 in a country which has still plenty of elbow 

 room, with plenty of resources; here it may 

 be expedient to leave adjustment to future 

 consideration and action, there expediency 

 calls for prompt and vigorous assertion of 

 state rights and obligations. 



But taking conditions and ideas as we find 

 them, it may be accepted as a general principle 

 that as far as forest areas serve only the one 

 object of furnishing supplies, and form the 

 basis of industrial activity, we may, for the 

 present, allow our general modern policy of 

 non-interference to prevail, based as it is on 

 the theory, only partially true, that self-inter- 

 est will secure the best use of the means of 

 production. There is, however, one great gen- 

 eric difference between the forestry business 

 and all other productive industries, which 

 places it on a different footing as far as state 

 interest is concerned; it is the time element 

 which brings with it consequences not ex- 

 perienced in any other business. In ordinary 

 cases the law of supply and demand coupled 

 with self-interest can be trusted to bring about 

 a proper balance, but in the forestry business, 

 where the time element is so great, the balance 

 of supply can not be maintained in this way; 

 hence even with regard to supply forests the 

 position of the state may properly be a differ- 

 ent one from that which it would be proper 

 and expedient to take toward other industrial 

 activities. 



This is much more the case when protection 

 forests are involved. Here, in exercising a 

 protective function, the state performs merely 

 the primary logical duty of its existence, 

 namely, securing for each of its members the 



