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AMERICAN FORESTRY 



self satisfactoril)- in the tiekl. They are 

 on the whole a pretty husky bunch of 

 boys and I am inclined to the opinion 

 that they are the best material, as a 

 class, we have yet had at the school, 

 and good results may confidently be ex- 

 pected from them upon their gradua- 

 tion and taking up active service in the 

 Bureau." 



Major Ahearn, in writing to Ameri- 

 can Forestry about the school and its 

 success, says : 



"The forest school was started early 

 in liMO as part of the College of Agri- 

 culture, University of the Philippines. 

 The college and school are situated near 

 Los Banos at the base of Mount Ma- 

 quiling, some 42 miles from Manila, 

 being connected with the same by ex- 

 cellent rail and water transportation. 

 This section of the country is building 

 up fast as is evidenced by three re- 

 cently constructed railroad lines now 

 girding the mountain. Mount Ma- 

 quiling is 3,800 feet in elevation and, 

 being almost wholly forested, was set 

 aside as a reserve as soon as the school 

 was established. The area of the re- 

 serve approximates lo,000 acres. The 

 study and mapping of this reserve, to- 

 gether with constructive work such as 

 road and trail building, tree planting, 

 etc., is part of the work of the students, 

 and in addition each class is expected 

 to improve one hectare (two and a half 

 acres ) of the reserve, making a sort of 

 a model forest on a small scale which 

 will be left as a monument to the class 

 doing the work. 



■■'J'he students are given a ])ractical 

 training, namely, to estimate roughly 

 the character, extent and value of a 

 given area, to locate and build trails, 

 keep licensees up to the rules, appre- 

 hend and prosecute trespassers and be- 

 come acquainted with the land status 

 of each occujiant within the forest zone. 

 The training in wood technology and 

 forest botany is exceptionally thorough. 



as it must be in order to be of prac- 

 tical use, for in the average small dis- 

 trict under a ranger will be found many 

 hundreds of tree species, the woods of 

 which in some cases grade into each 

 other almost imperceptibly. We now 

 have in the Philippine herbarium speci- 

 mens of more than 2,500 tree species. 

 During their course the students are 

 made more or less familiar with the 

 operations of the large lumber com- 

 panies, and are also encouraged to visit 

 the various woodworking industries in 

 and about Manila. 



"The cottages used by the students 

 and the faculty are built by the Bu- 

 reau ; the grounds are prettily parked 

 and kept in perfect order ; military 

 discipline is the rule and includes daily 

 inspection of houses and grounds. 



"The rough outdoor work of the boys 

 keeps them in tine physical trim, so that 

 when they leave for their stations at 

 graduation they present a far more 

 robust appearance than when they en- 

 tered two years before. They have 

 their societies, including a musical club, 

 and also help to run a magazine, thus 

 fully taking up their time. The head- 

 quarters of the model forest district 

 (No. o) is at the school, and this brings 

 the students into frequent contact with 

 live questions of administration and in- 

 vestigation. 



"Opportunity is given the graduates, 

 who are also high school graduates, to 

 return to the school for the course lead- 

 ing to the degree of Bachelor of 

 Science in Forestry. Students are se- 

 lected from all over the Islands and 

 upon graduation are sent to provinces 

 other than their own. After four years' 

 service they will return to their home 

 provinces, where they can do good mis- 

 sionary work in arousing public senti- 

 ment in favor of forest conservation, 

 for without the active cooperation ot 

 the public at large, forest laws and reg- 

 ulations are of no avail." 





