Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-06-06
HOW 70 BECOME FoREsTERs.
Official Information For Young Men who
Would Follow the Career.

Oicihi lnIorinatiOn FOR Young Men w nc
Would Follow the Career.
So many applications have been re-
ceived by the Bureau of Forestry In
Washington for information as to the
way to get a training in forestry, and
also for information as. to the employ
ment by the bureau of young men am
bilious in this direction that the bu-
reau has issued q circular on the sub
ject.
For those who have had no training
in forestry or those whose training is
incomplete the bureau has only one
kind of work. 1t is that of student
assistant.
This is practically the place of help
er in field work, and it lasts from three
to six months. The wages paid are
$25 month and expenses. The men
pay their own way to and from the
field. If they are ordered to Wash
ington at the close of the outdoor sea-
son to finish up the routine work, the
bureau pays the expense.
To become a student assistant one
ester, Department of Agriculture, for
a blank form of application. Appoint
ments depend upon the answers.
The applicant must make plain that
he has already studied forestry or is
desirous of doing so for permanent
calling. SO many applications have
come to the bureau from college stu
dents already studying forestry, that
men entirely without preliminary train
ing must be fitted exceptionally for
work in the woods to get appointment.
The work of these student assistants
is severe. They live in camps and keep
the hours of lumbermen. Their chief
labor Is in valuation surveys, that is,
in measuring standing timber or the
contents and rate of growth of felled
trees.
1t requires strong young men for this
labor, and all the instruction that such
student receives is what he absorbs
in his work. The circular says of these
student assistants:
"They are not attending a summer
school, but are taking a salaried posi-.
ton, the duties of which they will be
rigldly required to perform. The head
of the party is at all times willing, in
so far as 1t does not interfere with his
own duties, to explain matters to the
men under his charge.
"He has, however, no time to de.
liver lectures, nor to give formal in
struction Of any kind. The student
assistant has in his daily work abund-
ant opportunity to learn; whether he
makes the most of 1t rests with him.
The bureaus circular says a trained
forester should be skilled in geology,
physical geography, mineralogy, chem
istry, botany, mathematics, and the
practical principles of surveying. 1t
also says that the expert forester
should know something of physics, me-
teorology and political economy.
There are three schools of forestry
in the country, one at Cornell, one at
Yale, and one at Biltmore, n. G. The
Cornell school requires four years
study the Yale school requires two.
The Biltmore school gives instruction
of one year without a degree. Further
details may be secured from those
schools.
AS to the future employment of for
esters the bureau says it ais at present
unable to find a sufficient number of
suitably prepared foresters to supply
its needs" Preparation of working
plans for private, State and Federal
forest lands, forest investigations and
tree planting in many States demand
more men than can be supplied at pres
ent.
Holders of timber lands also realize
that conservative numbering pays, and
this enlarges the field of the foresters.
The bureau says the profession offers
a fair living for well-prepared man.
but also says that the salaries will
never be large" 1t adds that trained
foresters now in the bureaus employ
receive from S720 to S300o.--New York
Sun.