SILVICULTURE AND FOREST ECONOMY. 17 



Finally tlie Important discovery of the relation between the strength in compression and in 

 cross breaking, the crowning result of this short-lived investigation, is of vast importance, and 

 will not only put the designing of beams upon a surer footing, but save much useless wood testing 

 in the future. Whether this work be considered germane to a division of forestry or not, its 

 results will be held by future engineers and wood consumers, as well as foresters, as sufficient 

 testimony of the usefulness of the division. 



Since these investigations are now probably brought to an end as far as Government agency 

 is concerned, it has been thought desirable to give a fuller resume of their results in the appendix, 

 which has been prepared by Prof. Filibert Both, who was finally in special charge of the 

 investigations. 



I may only add that Bulletin No. 10, Timber, a Discussion of the Characteristics and Proper- 

 ties of Wood, prepared by Mr. Eoth, which has been translated into French, is the only publication 

 containing this kind of information, with special reference to our American woods. 



Besides these more general considerations of the requirements of wood consumption, other 

 more special classes also received attention, as the wood pulp, the naval store, the mining industry, 

 and the charcoal iron industry. Two reports, still in manuscript, designed to assist operators in 

 these last two lines, are to be published sood. 



While then the information furnished to the wood consumer to Induce a more economical u^e 

 of material was most decidedly of a very useful order, the needs oi the forest producer weie by 

 no means neglected. 



SILVICULTUKE AND FOBEST ECONOMY. 



Forestry, the art of wood production, may be divided into two parts, which can be treated 

 more or less independently, namely, silviculture, which comprises all the detailed instructions that 

 are necessary to create and grow the wood crop to perfection, and to reproduce it; and forest 

 economy, which comprises the business methods that must be employed to manage the crop so as 

 to yield regular annual returns; the one branch being concerned with the production of the 

 material, the other with the production of a revenue. 



Again in both cases we may distinguish between general principles and specific application. 

 The first, fortunately for us, are already for the most part developed through the experiences of 

 the Germans and other nations, and it Is only necessary to present these general principles, when 

 a study of local conditions, the soil, the climate, the market conditions, the species we have to 

 deal with, etc., will enable the student of nature and the business man to form a judgment as to 

 their applicability in his particular case. 



These general principles underlying silviculture and forest economy have been again and 

 again discussed in reports, bulletins, circulars, and public addresses by the writer. The first 

 brief presentation of the same is to be found in the annual report of the division for 188G. A 

 bulletin (No. 5) entitled, What is Forestry, published in an issue of 40,000 copies, was devoted to 

 an elucidation of the same subject. 



In order to bring this discussion closer to the conditions of one class of forest owners, our 

 farmers, these silvicultural principles and methods were more fully discussed with reference to 

 their possible application in a Farmers 7 Bulletin (No. 67) entitled Forestry for Farmers, while special 

 phases of silviculture, as, for instance, the Growing of Seedlings in Nurseries, Planting of Waste 

 Places on the Farm, Tree Planting in the Plains, Osier Culture, The Introduction of Certain 

 Foreign Trees, etc., were discussed in separate circulars and special articles or bulletins. A dis- 

 cussion of the general aspects of silviculture will be found in the appendix. 



The x>**inciples of forest economy were also elucidated in the various annual reports, and 

 especially in the report for 1893, in which a statement of the methods of administration and forest 

 regulation of the German forest departments is given in full. In addition, more complete state- 

 ments of the financial results of these German forest administrations prepared in the Division 

 were published in public prints, to show the elements of profitable forest management as exhibited 

 by these examples. 



Since these statements are scattered through various publications and are not now readily 

 accessible, it has been deemed expedient to present the same as an appendix to this report, and 

 thereby aid in elucidating the means which the Division has employed to make the practical appli- 

 H. Doc. Uo. 181 2 



