Vol. 45 TORREYA March 1945 



BOOK REVIEWS 



Biological Management of the Forest 



Pathology in Forest Practice. By Dow Vawter Baxter. 618 pp., illustrated, with chapter 

 bibliographies, and index. New York : John Wiley & Sons. 1943. $5.50. 



As its title implies, this work is written for the practising forester — for the 

 individual who wants specific answers to concrete problems in forest pathology. 

 It is hardly a book for the layman, assuming, as it does, a basic knowledge 

 of forest science and technique. But for the advanced student, the forest nurs- 

 eryman, the silviculturist, or the person employed in the handling of forest 

 products, it should prove an invaluable reference work. 



The approach undertaken here to the pathology of the forest is entirely 

 original, and may well mark a turning point in the literature of the field. Here, 

 for the first time, emphasis is placed solidly on the forest community (whether 

 nursery, woodland or plantation), rather than on pathogenic organisms asso- 

 ciated with disease symptoms. Such emphasis would appear to be in line with 

 the more advanced trends of present-day medical thinking, where patients 

 rather than diseases, have become the principal objects of concern. Thus, in a 

 book of some 600 pages, less than 50 are devoted to the chapter entitled : "The 

 Fungi which Cause Disease." From here on the treatment is functional, under 

 such headings as : damage appraisal, nursery, plantations, cultural practices, 

 shade trees, and forest products — each in relation to disease incidence, char- 

 acter of injury, extent of losses, and control methods. This arrangement in- 

 volves a certain amount of recapitulation both in the discussion and in the 

 bibliographies appearing at the end of each chapter. While thus adding con- 

 siderably to the bulk of the work, it has increased the availability of the ma- 

 terial to the practitioner many-fold. 



According to the thesis developed by Dr. Baxter, disease incidence results 

 less from the pathogenicity of fungous organisms than from environmental 

 conditions (natural or induced by improper cultural practices) which pre-dis- 

 pose to infection. In addition, numerous states of "disease" are recognized in 

 which attacking organisms other than fungi are involved, or where a dis- 

 turbed metabolism of the tree is alone responsible. In discussing these so-called 

 "physiological diseases," the role of soil and climatic influences is admirably 

 portrayed. 



Few pathologists in the country, today, possess the background of forestry 

 and forest practice to have assembled this material ; fewer still would have 

 had the courage to present it in a form so completely divorced from the tradi- 

 tional concepts of plant pathology. As a natural result of the emphasis laid 

 upon forest practices, the book includes a wealth of data concerned with var- 



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