178 North American Forests and Forestry 



city people. The protection against this danger 

 evidently lies in reserving a portion of the sur- 

 roundings to the public by letting the local au- 

 thorities, or associations, acquire the possession 

 and manage these parks for the benefit of all. 



There is one branch of forestry work, indepen- 

 dent of the proprietorship and management of the 

 woods, which is pre-eminently within the province 

 of governments and public institutions. That is 

 the acquiring and dissemination of information re- 

 garding our forests and forest industries. Work 

 of this kind can be done by private parties to a 

 limited extent only. The greater means of gov- 

 ernmental agencies and of the great universities 

 of the country are necessary to do it effectively. 

 Facts regarding the life, history, and properties of 

 trees ; their relations to geological, topographical, 

 and meteorological conditions ; their interdepen- 

 dence with other plants and with animals, — all these 

 have to be gathered, collated, and studied, if silvi- 

 culture in this country is to be based on accurate 

 knowledge instead of being forced to trust in 

 chance. Much work has been done in this direc- 

 tion, mostly by men of science who had no im- 

 mediate pecuniary interest in the phenomena they 

 were studying. But the field to be covered, in- 

 cluding, as it does, nearly all the natural sciences 

 and extending over a whole continent, is so im- 

 mense that all that has been learned is but an 

 insignificant beginning of what should be known. 

 What is true of the biological side of forestry is 



