CHAPTER XII 



FORESTRY AS A PROFESSION 



THE profession of forestry is distinguished for 

 this, that it brings one into touch with more 

 branches of knowledge and more fields of work 

 than any other, excepting only the profession of 

 law. When we speak of a professional forester we 

 are apt to think mostly of the man who manages a 

 given tract of woodland, superintends the proper 

 silvicultural labors, and markets the products. Yet 

 that is but a branch of forestry. He also is a for- 

 ester who administers the various laws regulating 

 the treatment of forest lands in the interest of the 

 national life ; and the name should not be withheld 

 from men whose life-work consists of investigations 

 into the physical and economic conditions on which 

 the forestry of the nation is based. 



On its silvicultural and technical side, forestry 

 must be based on a sound comprehension of the 

 physical and biological sciences. Geology, to un- 

 derstand the relations of soils and topographical 

 conditions; botany, in all its branches, to compre- 

 hend the life of the material he has to deal with ; 

 zoology, to learn how the animal world affects his 

 trees ; meteorology, to get an insight into the 



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