, 1901-12-28
FORESTRY DEVOTEES,
FIELD IN THIS COUNTRY FER
FOREST ENGINEERS.
Wealth Produced from A." erica, Forests
Exceeds That of the Fields or Mines
Some Astonishing Figures OF Com-
Parison-The Forestry Schools.

The new opening is in forestry, or
forest engineering, as it is coming t.
be called, and in a country with such
vast forest tracts as ours, tracts fitted
for nothing but forest growth and ad-
mirably adapted to that, with vast
capital and labor depending on the
timber supply for employment, it Is
forest engineer, the man who knows
how to keep up the annual supply for
ever. Forestry as a profession is not
new to the world, for it has been prac-
ticed with profit by generations of the
more thrifty European races. 1t is
new to this country because tho time
II only Just ripe for its employment.
1t has become essential to the con-
tinued prosperity of our lumber indus
try in Its producing and manufacture
ing branches. With an increasing
population and general prosperity.
local consumption of timber has null
tiplied rapidly. The demand from
abroad is also continuous and growing.
To meet 1t We have a very certain and
fixed stock of growing timber, and
much Of the best timber land is ADAM
doned to absolute desert waste, after
being clean cut, as the phrase is. For
estry. the applied science Of growing
trees for profit, would never sanction
such shiftless. short-sighted. yea, sui
cidal methods. 1t would keep in grow
ing timber, and that Of the kinds best
suited to the particular soil and mar
ket, every acre Of land which was
not more valuable for agriculture,
building or some other form of busi-
ness enterprise. In brief, it may be
said that the wealth produced from
our American forests each year ex-
ceeds in value the total product of
all the gold, silver, copper, iron, lead
and coal mines, and the value of this
crop surpasses that Of the wheat and
cotton fields combined. The statistics
Of our national trade bear out these
statements. In similarly abbreviated
form 1t can be said that this country
is now and has been for several years
past using fully so per cent more wood
per annum for all purposes than the
forests can produce under natural con
ditions. What those forests can DO
when skillfully assisted by future
generations of forest engineers is for
those men to prove. Surely there will
not be the wanton waste which goes
on today land that leakage stopped
can properly be charged up to the
credit of increased production). and
the trees will grow faster for being
given the proper conditions without
the necessity of their fighting for them
single handed. Forestry cannot be
studied today in any and every college
in the land. There are at present
three prominent schools devoted ex-
~clusively to the subject, and special
courses In certain phases Of the SCI
ence have lately been opened by a few
other Institutions. The three leading
schools are here mentioned In the or
der of their foundation. as follows:
The school at George Vanderbilt's for
ests at Biltmore, N. c.; the New York
State College of Forestry. Cornell UNI
versity, Ithaca, N. Y; the Yale. For
est School, Yale University. New Ha-
ven, Conn. Berea College. Berea, KY,
has started a course adapted to the
seeds Of the mountain farmers. for
whom that college chiefly exists. The
New Hampshire College Of Agricul-
ture and the Mechanic Arts. Durham.
N. H., has within the year opened .
course In the subject, which should be
Of great help to farmers In northern
New England. These are the three
chief schools and two Of the minor
ones. That courses are not opened BY
more colleges is largely due. no doubt
to the dimculty. even the impoasibilitu
OF securing competent instructors. and
to their lack of suitable demonstra-
ton forests where the men can be put
to work. This suggests still another
neld for the young American student
who has not yet hit upon his life
work, especially II he has an inclina-
ton to teach for a living. These
schools. and others yet to b, must have
professors and instructors in the vari--
GUS branches. Why not study for
estry with a view to teaching the
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