best advice he can give young
men is: "Take time to get rich." His idea of getting rich is to fill
his mind and spirit full with observations of the nature he so deeply
loves and so well understands; so that in his mind it is not money which
makes riches, but life in the open and the seeing eye.

Next to those basic traits of personal character, without which no man
is worth his salt, the Forester's most important quality is the power of
observation, the power to note and understand, or seek to understand,
what he sees in the forest. It is just as essential a part of the
Forester's equipment to be able to see what is wrong with a piece of
forest, and what is required for its improvement, as it is necessary for
a physician to be able to diagnose a disease and to prescribe the
remedy.

Silvics, which may be said to be the knowledge of how trees behave in
health and disease toward each other, and toward light, 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. 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.

Perhaps the second among the qualities necessary for the Forester is
common sense, which most often simply means a sympathetic understanding
of the circumstances among which a man finds himself. The American
Forester must know the United States and understand its people. Nothing
which affects the welfare of his country should be indifferent to him.
Forestry is a form of practical statesmanship which touches the national
life at so many points that no Forester can safely allow himself to
remain ignorant of the needs and purposes of his fellow citizens, or to
be out of touch with the current questions of the day. The best citizen
makes the best Forester, and no man can make a good Forester unless he
is a good citizen also.

The Forester can not succeed unless he understands the problems and
point of view of his country, and that is the reason why Foresters from
other lands were not brought into the United States in the early s