Arizona republican., 1920-11-04

Telwve years ago, in August, 1908. the first forest experiment station in the United States was established at Fort Valley. near Flagstaff, Arizona. During the five years following, simi lar stations were established iii Colo rado, Montana, Oregon, California and Minnesota. The idea was not new, since European forest experiment sta tions have been in existence since 1870 In this country it had a prece- dent in the agricultural experiment. stations which are to be found in every state.
 Forest experiment stations are sim liar to agricultural experiment stations in principle though different in de- tail The fundamental idea in both is that of permanency-a permanent organization, permanent staff of workers and permanent plant pro- viding facilities for carrying experi- mental work over long periods of years The system is particularly well adapted to forest investigations because of the slow development of , forest trees as compared with agri- cultural crops and the consequent long periods required to obtain results. Nowhere in the United States is this feature so outstanding is in the south west, where nature requires 200 to 300 years to mature a forest and 20 years to restock it after the timber crop has been harvested. In mode of operation the two types of stations are as different as the growing and harvesting of farm crops and the grow ing and harvesting of timber. The agricultural investigator works largely under artificially controlled conditions. His field experiments are on rela*iVAlv small plots of titled land Where he seeks to work out new scientific facts or to apply the latest discoveries of science to the arts of planting, culti- vation, fertilization, Irrigation and harvesting.
 The forester, on the otner hand. must deal exclusively win conditions as he finds them in nature The problem of the fort st Investigator is to learn the workings of nature and discover now to take advantage of what she offers. Even in such pains tahlug work as planting, economic couui.lohs III this country do not per mt the lnten sive practice possible in the growing of field crons. When the lorestet has planted his trees his care dside from protection against Ire anu other controllable depreda uouS' m lst end Whether the plan ldIloh &an, under these conditions grow Into q profitable stand of timber dependSs upon the forester's judgment III seiecting the right species, the right kho of stock and the right method oi pIahlIng for each site; his understand ing Of plant requirements: and his apliily to analyze and interpret fac tors of soil and climate as they exist
 Ellt planting is only a minor phase or forestry. In this country the great est scientific problem is to so manage the. forests that they will restocA naturally and produce the most pI IofitabIe stands of timber which the land is capable of producing. This Calls into play a great complex oi 'latural factors including soil, mois- ture, heat light, plant and animal life all of which are more or less inter dependent and react in an infinite number of ways to the slightest dis .urbance of their established balance 70 direct these forces by the limited n,eans at the forester's command, il slch a way as to realize the highes alins of silvi-culture, requires brt4dth of training and experience ana an intimate familiarity with tn -vatlCus branches of science such a 1'l tv individuals can hope to attain
 u 8 physical point of view tn
 experiment. stations n thf
 are much smaller and les