Evening star., 1898-03-12
TO TEACH FORESTRY
Special Schools Are Greatly Needed
in This Country.
WHAT is BEING DONE In EUROPE
There the Great Preserves Furnish
Handsome Revenue.
OUR LACK OF FORESIGHT

Written for The Evening Star.
There seems to be fair prospect that the
United States will have, what is certainly
needed, school of forestry. Governor
Black of New York has recently suggested
the establishment of such a school at Cor
nell University, and has recommended that
in connection with it. 10000 acres of state
forest land be set apart, to be used as an
area Of demonstration in the practical
management and preservation Of forests
Ii this is done there will be at least one
place where young men can receive the
practical and scientific training necessary
to skilled foresters, and where body of
men can be prepared for the important
work of forest management, which must
soon receive attention in this country.
AT present there is no institution. state
or private. in which adequate attention is
given to the subject Of forestry. In this
respect we are far behind the nations of
Europe. There are more than dozen
schools OF forestry in Europe and in
france and Germany, where my own train
ing was obtained, the matter of forest
management has been reduced to an exact
system, under the direction of the state
In Germ any the forest preserves are nm
der the direction of the various end
divisions of the empire in which they are
located, though they are all correlated in a
someWhat loose manner under the direction
OF a central bureau In Berlin. Positions in
this branch of the service are eagerly
sought after. and are not easily obtained.
FIRST, the young man who hopes to be-
toihe come forester must have thorough
training In the schools, where he prepa res
himself by a groundwork of mathematics
chemistry, geology and botany for the spe-
cal study of his profession. He studies
surveying, the character Of soils and the
nature and growth of different kinds of
trees. In the latter years of his course he
SPENDS some time in practical work in the
forests themselves.
Desirable Positions.
After several years spent in study and
preparation he is allowed, in course of
time, to enter the severe examinations.
which are held at regular intervals If he
succeeds in passing he must still wait until
the slow process of death or promotion has
made vacancy before he can hope for
position in the state forestry division This
period of waiting usually extends over sev-
eral years, and the gap must be filled in by
private practice or by some other kind of
work. ~
When at last the appointment comes the
forester has many compcnsations for his
nard training, and the position of head
forester, IN charge of one section is so
attractive that men frequently refuse nro-
mouon Iii order to retain it. The paw is
not large, although, as professional nav
goes In Germany, ii is not to be despisei
Inc forester has house to live in a horse
allowance and a yearly salary of abour
$1,000. But there are many things To mai
the position attractive and satisfactory ia
the man who has the love of nature in his
Leart. He lives amid pleasant and health
Iul surroundings, the work keens hin, in
the open air most of the time and ,,1ol,l-
tiiii strong and vigorous; there are opDor-
tuintleS Tor shooting, if he is fond of a r,,p
ana Ior riding, if he likes horses. He GERS
10 know every foot of his ground ana ro
be familiar with the reouiren7ante "a
Soilultion OF all his trees, so that his work
becomes easy as we'll agreeable.
Value Of State Forests.
lhere Is one point about the forest pre-
serves OF Europe as they are cfrected hv
trained men which those who opnosa the
aeVotihs or any attention to the subject
IN thls country would do well to note
refer to their productiveness.
In bavaria, for example, the state for
ests yield net revenue of n LITTLE las.
SsS Snan q per acre per annum, while those of
oaxony, under different form of MANAGE
ment and different economic conditionS
produce more than double that amount
one OF the most interesting forests of E,u
i. rope belongs to the city of Zurich and
us net product per acre per annum is about
so. VI course the conditions that prevail
IN europe are different from those of this
country. In SaxOny for example little
twlgs that would hardly be picked up in
III.
valuable enough to be carried considerable
distances by rail. Still the future posi-
bilities of forest revenues are Interesting.
In this respect the results of the English
forest department in India are most in
structfve. With conditions still more diff
cult In many ways than those which con-
trent us In this country, they have sue
ceeded, with little more than thirty years
of systematic effort in producing a net
revenue of about 81. 100000 per annum from
the government forests. / have no doubt
whatever that within the same time simi-
lar or better results could be obtained in
this country. 1t must not be forgotten
that hand in hand with the increa sing reve-
nues from the government forests in Eu-
rope and i'll India goes an increase in quail
ity and productive capacity of the forests,
and that should be the policy to be pursued
in the United States as we'll
American Forestry Conditions.
Still America has her own problem and
must solve it in her own way.
Much of the agitation In favor of the
introduction of forestry in the United
States has been made Ineffective because
the advocates of forest reform have in
sisted that the details of European methods
Of forestry were not only worthy of imita-
this country. This is very far from being
the case. Economic conditions in Europe
and in India, where the most interesting
examples of forest management are to be
found, are so different from those which |
obtain In the United States that il is inn
possible to reason from one to the other
eXcept in the most general Way When