The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-05-22
Schools are Intro
ducing Forestry.

Forestry is attracting wide atten-,
tiOn of the United states. Not only
have many colleges and universities
introduced courses and even profes-
sional schools of forestry, but ele-
mentary phases of the subject have
been introduced into hundreds OF the
graded and high schools, and teachers
give enthusiastic reports of the suc-.
cess which is attending the new
study. Public school teachers say
that they have found in It a subject
interesting to children, and one whi,h
furnishes much attractive, tangible
material to work upon, developing
the childs observation, and being az
once acceptable to the young miud,
and most practical.
The public schools of Washington,
ID. c., and of paris of Iowa are in
the vanguard of this movement. Bv-
cry graded school in Washington and
large number of rural schools of
PottawattarSie county, iowa, are now
teaching the elements or forestry.
In Iowa, the subject is being taught
as a commercial course in connection
with home geography and agriculture,
while in Washington schools it is
used in the nature study courses. The
-four upper grades OF the Washington
schools arc studying the forest and
this year all are following practically
the same outline; next year this out
! line will be confined to the fifth
grade, while the other grades will
! follow an outline one step advanced,
and so on until by the fourth year a
four-year course will have been intro
duced AS a preparation for this
work, forestry has been taught in the
| Normal School of the District of CO.
lumbia for several years past, and
when the young stuGent teachers take
up the actual work of teaching they
are already familiar with the detais
of elementary forest study. Prom
incnt among the other normal
schools of the country to take mp work
of this kind are those of Cleveland,
Ohio; Rochester, n ~; and Joliet,
! H.
There is Sc tion in the Forest
Service of the U. s. Department of
Agriculture which works in co-opera-
tion with schools in teaching forestry
and its related subjects. This CO.
operation is not limited to technical
schools of forestry: it is equally open
to primary kindergarten grades; 1t is
as willing to help teach tree study
in first year nature study class as
to assist in the establishment OF a
professional forest s;ool.
This section Of education, as II Is
called, is now working out model
courses of study for graded and high
, schools, in cooperation with the pub
lie schools of Washington, d. c., and
Philadelphia, Pa. The work in Phil
adelphia is being conducted by w.
| N Clifford, head of tne Commerce
Department of the Southern High
School, where he is building up a
modern equipment ana evolving a
practical system for the teaching OF
forestry in high schools.
In Washington, the Section of Id
ucation Is directing similar work
| for graded schools in four of the
public schools of that city Besides
special lessons in the class room, the
pupils collect and mount specimens
OF leaves, twigs, bark, and seeds
and. in connection with wood work
ing. wood specimens OF different com
merclal trees are prepared and
placed IN cabinets. Opposite each
wood section Is placed the name OF
the wood, its qualities ana uses. Ex-
tensive field work is Planned for the
spring months, and the different
classes will be brought out into the
woods, there to study the trees at firsI
hand. As these courses are built III
and tested they will be published
from time 10 tims for distribution
among teachers, and It is expeoted
that the practical line along which
the courses are being evolved viii
win for them a wide application n
other schools.
Most of the schools now teaching
forestry are using as text books sew
eral of the publications Issued by
the Forest Service, including Farmers
Bulletin 173, "A Pr'mer OF Forestry
The Service also issues many circu
lars dealing with local conditions
which teachers in the localities deal
with might find very useful. BY
writing TO the Forest Service, Wash
ington, D. c., as many copies o
these various publications as are
needed for class room use, as wei
as other helpful material and infor
nation may be secured free OF charge