Forester

“ The forester is often called upon to answer questions and discuss matters with relation to shade trees or ornamental trees, but this is not a matter within his province properly, but is a matter for the landscape architect or horticulturist. ”

“ They lie out be fore us ill-defined and uncertain, like some scraggy hillside or pasture, which varies from day to day and from hour to hour, with the revolutions of Nature, so that the eye of the forester never rests twice upon the same scene; one knows not what may occur,—he may hear a fox bark or a partridge drum. They are planted deep in Nature and have more root than others. ”

“ The trained Forester must know the forest as a doctor knows the human machine. First of all, he must be able to distinguish the different trees of which the forest is composed, for that is like learning to read. He must know the way they are made and the way they grow; but far more important than all else, he must base his knowledge upon that part of forestry which is called Silvics, the knowledge of the relation of trees to light, heat, and moisture, to the soil, and to each other. ”

“ No man can be a good Forester without that quality of observation and understanding which the French call "the forester's eye." It is not the only quality required for success in forestry, but it is unquestionably the first. ”

“ A forester is an officer of the forest sworn to preserve the vert and venison therein, and to attend the wild beasts within his bailiwick, and to watch and endeavour to keep them safe, by day and night. ”

“ Every tree feels the sting of his sharp feet. Nature has made him master-forester, and committed the greater part of the coniferous crops to his management. Probably over half of all the ripe cones of the spruces, firs, and pines are cut off and handled by this busy harvester. ”

“ Longleat is one of the first places in which the idea of the wild garden was practically carried out and ably by the forester, Mr. Berry. With such a fine variety of surface and soil, the place naturally offers numerous positions in which the plants of other countries as cold or colder than our own could be naturalised, or so planted that they would increase and take care of themselves in the woods. A forester’s duties and opportunities are generally such as make it extremely difficult for him to carry out such an idea. ”

“ The first step in forestry is to become acquainted with the various kinds of trees. The coming Forester must learn to identify the woody plants of the United States, both in summer and in winter. He must understand their shapes and outward structures, and where they are found, and he must begin his knowledge of the individual habits of [Pg 130] growth and life which distinguish the trees which are important in forestry. ”

“ The practice of forestry is necessarily different in different kinds of forests and under different economic conditions. All that the Forester knows must here be applied, and applied in workable fashion, not only to the forest, but to the men who use the forest. ”

“ By protection, is meant the safeguarding of the forest from fire, wind, insects, disease and injury for which man is directly responsible. Here, the forester also prevents injury to the trees from the grazing and browsing of sheep and goats, and keeps his forest so well stocked that no wind can uproot the trees nor can the sun dry up the moist forest soil. ”

“ In view of the forester's interest in all of the trees which make up our forests, my purpose of addressing you today is to bring before you the question of the most effective use of the forest soils of this state. I shall also attempt to make some suggestions to your or [Pg 18] ganization in the matter of interesting the man on the street in nut growing. This profession and the business of forestry have been passing through a period of general educational work in this country. ”

“ Toward the end of winter the forester in charge cuts a sufficient number of vigorous young branches as large around as a stout cane or even a man’s fist, or perhaps larger, and from one to four meters long. ”

“ The artificial reproduction of forests is likely to occupy far more of the Forester's attention in the future than it has in the past. Hence the collection of tree seeds, their fertility and vitality as affecting their handling, the best methods of seeding and [Pg 134] planting, and the lessons of past failures and successes, with the whole subject of nursery work and the care of young plantations, must by no means be overlooked. ”

“ When this has been accomplished throughout the whole tract, the imperial forester is again called, and goes through the forest, marking all trees not large enough for building timber, and which are so warped, decayed, or top-killed as to be unlikely to grow into good timber. ”

“ Silvics, which may be said to be the knowledge of how trees behave in health and disease toward each other, and toward light, [Pg 67] heat, moisture, and the soil, is the foundation of forestry and the Forester's first task is to bring himself to a high point of efficiency in observing and interpreting these facts of the forest, and to keep himself there. It should be as hard work to walk through the forest, and see what is there to be seen, as to wrestle with the most difficult problem of mathematics. ”

“ The forests with which the American forester deals are rich in species, usually endowed with abundant powers of reproduction, and, over a large part of their range, greatly dependent for their composition and general character upon the action of forest fires. ”

“ Also, in healthy growing trees of considerable size, which have spreading tops, and which are not to be cut down for a considerable time, the forester, if he have a good eye, may, by lopping off a few branches here and there throughout the top, throw the greater part of the boughs into condition to become knees, or valuable crooks, when of size. ”

“ Most important of all, from the Forester's point of view, the members of the forest live in an exact and intricate system of competition and mutual assistance, of help or harm, which extends to all the inhabitants of this complicated city of trees. ”

“ Of the commercially valuable trees there may be said to be, in round numbers, a hundred out of a total forest flora of about 500 species, but many trees not yet of importance in the lumber trade will become so hereafter, as has already happened in many cases. The attention of the forester must usually be concentrated upon the growth and reproduction of a single species, and never of more than a very few. ”

“ It is common, therefore, for the foresters abroad to plant what they call nurse-trees along with those which they intend to make the staple of the ultimate and full-grown forest, the final outcome of their one hundred and twenty or one hundred and sixty years of watching and culture. If, for instance, they propose to raise what shall be at last a forest of oak-timber, they will plant with the oaks successive rows of the pine, the beech, the maple, the larch, or the birch, each at a distance perhaps of twenty feet from its own kind, but each only four feet from some neighbor. ”

“ Cabins must be built, trails made, roads cut. We'll need a head forester for every forest. This man must know all that's on his preserve, an' have it mapped. He must teach his rangers what he knows about trees. Penetier will be given over entirely to the growin' of yellow pine. Thet thrives best, an' the parasites must go. All dead an' old timber must be cut, an' much of thet where the trees are crowded. The north slopes must be cut enough to let in the sun an' light. Brush, windfalls rottin' logs must be burned. Thickets of young pine must be thinned. ”

“ Lumbering the Forester should know more than a little about, as how to organize lumber operations, the equipment and management of logging and milling in various forest regions, the manufacture, seasoning, and grading of the rough and finished lumber, cost keeping in a lumber business, methods of sale, market requirements at home and abroad, prices, the relation of the lumber tariff to forestry, lumber associations, timber bonds, and insurance. ”

“ The idea of using the forest first for the greatest good of the present generation, and then for the greatest good of succeeding generations through the long future of the nation and the race—that is the Forester's point of view. ”

“ The most important tasks of the trained Forester on a National Forest are the preparation of working plans for the use of the forest by methods which will protect and perpetuate it as well, and the carrying out of the plans when made. ”

“ Browsing animals, and most of all the goat, are considered by foresters as more injurious to the growth of young trees, and, therefore, to the reproduction of the forest, than almost any other destructive cause. ”

“ Amateurs in landscape object to the scientific treatment of pine forest, complaining that it creates a tiresome monotony. It is quite true that a plantation of Scots pines of middle age is not an interesting subject of contemplation, except to foresters. ”

“ Fish and game associations are beginning to employ Foresters, realizing that the wise handling of the forests may well go hand in hand with the care of the game and fish which the forest shelters and protects. Eventually nearly all such associations which control any considerable body of land in timbered regions may be expected to utilize the services of trained Foresters of their own. ”

“ They look so much like toy trees we immediately want to play we are foresters, way off in the wild western lands, planting forest-trees for Uncle Sam.
We can make our forest as large as we want it and plant trees every day if we like, or we can gather up our nice, clean, dry cones and take them into the house to use in some other way. They make nice playthings. ”

“ In particular, it is the art of handling the forest so that it will render whatever service is required of it without being impoverished or destroyed. For example, a forest may be handled so as to produce saw logs, telegraph poles, barrel hoops, firewood, tan bark, or turpentine. The main purpose of its treatment may be to prevent the washing of soil, to regulate the flow of streams, to support cattle or sheep, or it may be handled so as to supply a wide range and combination of uses. Forestry is the art of producing from the forest whatever it can yield for the service of man. ”

“ But this niceness is more conspicuous in flowers and the herbacious offspring, than in foresters, which require only diligent weeding and frequent cleansing, till they are able to shift for themselves; and as their vessels enlarge and introsume more copious nourishment, often starve their neighbours. ”

“ The great change which led to improved conditions, during the first half of the century, was pre-eminently due to the knowledge and intelligence of a group of men, six in number, competent foresters, who combined the high grade education of the Cameralists with the practitioners’ knowledge: Hartig, Cotta, Hundeshagen, Koenig, Pfeil and Heyer. ”

“ Up here it's not lack of moisture that stunts and retards their growth. It's fighting the elements—cold, storm-winds, snowslides. I suppose not one in a thousand seedlings takes root and survives. But the forest fights hard to live.”
“Well, Ken, we may as well sit back now and talk forestry till Buell skins all he wants of Penetier,” said Dick. “It's really a fine camping-spot. Plenty of deer up here and bear, too.” ”

“ To the young man who is attracted to forestry and begins to consider it as a possible profession, certain questions present themselves. What is forestry? If he takes it up, what will his work be, and where? ”

“ Before we can understand forestry, certain facts about the forest itself must be kept in mind. A forest is not a mere collection of individual trees, just as a city is not a mere collection of unrelated men and women, or a Nation like ours merely a certain number of independent racial groups. A forest, like a city, is a complex community with a life of its own. It has a soil and an atmosphere of its own, chemically and physically different from any other, with plants and shrubs as well as trees which are peculiar to it. ”

“ The trees in a forest are all helped by mutually protecting each other against high winds, and by producing a richer and moister soil than would be possible if the trees stood singly and apart. They compete among themselves by their roots for moisture in the soil, and for light and space by the growth of their crowns in height and breadth. Perhaps the strongest weapon which trees have against each other is growth in height. In certain species intolerant of shade, the tree which is overtopped has lost the race for good. ”

“ Many of these are so large or so remote from seed-bearing trees that natural reproduction will not suffice to replace the forest. In such localities planting is needed, and for that purpose the Forest Examiner must establish and conduct a forest nursery. The decision on the kind of trees to plant and on the methods of raising and planting them, the collection of the seed, the care and transplanting of the young trees until they are set out on the site of the future forest, forms a task of absorbing interest. Such work often requires a high degree of technical skill. ”

“ The history of forestry in Europe has a certain importance in throwing light on our own forest history and its probable development, and this is especially true of the history of the administration of Government forest lands and of education in forestry. ”

“ Now, what you said about a pine-tree cleaning itself—come back at me with that.”
“Why, that's simple enough, Dick,” I answered. “Now, say here we have a clump of pine saplings. They stand pretty close—close enough to make dense shade, but not too crowded. The shade has prevented the lower branches from producing leaves. As a consequence these branches die. Then they dry, rot, and fall off, so when the trees mature they are clean-shafted. They have fine, clear trunks. They have cleaned themselves, and so make the best of lumber, free from knots.” ”