HARDWOOD RECORD 



10 



as such white oak as exceeds belief. In the 



superb hickories there are meat opportunities for 

 making wagons and carriages. If you would 

 take hold 1 would exert myself to secure a site 

 near some town at the original cost of land, 

 and to secure the cut of sawmills for the pur- 

 poses in question, without anything but the 

 smallest compensation for such service. 



The matter will no1 brook delay. — M. P.. II. 



Anyone interested in the foregoing propo- 

 sition, which looks so well to our correspond- 

 ent, can have Ins name and address on appli- 

 cation. — Editor. 



Stock for Poles and Shafts. 



.John H. Hoyt, manufacturer of buggy 



at Delaware, X. J., submits the follow- 

 ing list of hickory dimension stork, whi 



:ul\ employs in his manufacture in the 



East. It may be interesting to pi rs of 



dimension stock for the establishment of 

 lar sizes of this material, to know tin' dimen- 

 sions generally used in New Jersey. — Editor. 



1 ' i \l ' i 6' 6" and 7' 6". 

 l%xl% 6' 6" and 7" 6". 

 1 'oxl > L . 6' 6" and 7' 6". 

 1 %xl ■, >:■ 6" and 7' 6". 

 l%xl%- 6' 6" and V 6". 

 L'Uxi'u 6' 6" and 7' 6". 

 2>4x3 38". 

 2%x3M 38". 

 J % x3%— 38". 



A School of Lumbering. 



In these United States we find a respectable 

 number of mining schools, engineering schools 

 and agricultural schools i some better than oth- 

 ers, others better than none), and nobody qnes 1 

 tions their value. Now then, has not the time 

 arrived for the establishment of a school of 

 lumbering? Is latter-day lumbering not diversi- 

 fied or not difficult enough — nay. is it not per- 

 plexing enough to make methodical, encyclopedic 

 education toward the practice of lumbering ad- 

 visable, remunerative, necessary? 



A school of lumbering is a school of practical 

 forestry. The major part of forestry, as act- 

 ually practiced, consists of lumbering. Forestry 

 is anything that has to do with the use of 

 woodlands. We may call our neighbor's method 

 of forest use a bad method, still his method is 

 "forestry" just as much as the mountaineer's 

 and the gentleman's methods of farming fall 

 under the term •agriculture." in spite of their 

 shortcomings. Good and bad forestry are dis- 

 tinguished merely by the account of profit and 

 loss. 



Obviously, the lumber business, or forestry if 

 you please, cannot be learned' at a school of 

 forestry with the effect that a graduate of the 

 school is a lumberman or a forester. Far from 

 that ! As we all know, only years of experience, 

 of hard, practical experience, autodidactically 

 collected, within the woods and within the busi- 

 ness, will mold out of a graduate a forester and 

 a lumberman. 



Our so-called "forestry experts" coming 

 straight from school are experts only to a lim- 

 ited extent. They stand on a par with the 

 M. D. who has never worked in a hospital ; with 

 the machine engineer who has never worked in 

 a shop ; with the lawyer who has never appeared 

 at court. 

 Scope of the Ideal School of Lumbering. 

 A school of forestry must be a technical school, 

 in my opinion, and its technical teachers must 

 be men of practical experience ; they must be 

 lumbermen. The ideal school of forestry must 

 be broader in scope than any school now exist- 

 ing, either here or abroad. It must not be con- 

 lined to the teaching of conservative forestry; 

 it must teach forestry which pays; it must teach 

 truth, business. 



Within these limits a most thorough ground- 

 ing should be given in the main branches of 

 knowledge which the practical woodsman re- 

 quires or may require. Knowledge is the best 

 of all assets. It certainly is the only unalien- 

 able asset. Knowledge is the best of all re- 

 sources. It certainly is the only inexhaustible 

 resource. 



Ideal Site of a Forest School. 

 A forestry school should lie situated in the 



woods, and preferably in w Is of a diversified 



character— in a section of the country where the 

 northern coniferous Forest joins with the hard- 

 woods and pineries of tin' South. 



At the very gate of the school and preferably 

 under the management of the school there should 



be conducted operations in logging and milling, 

 in short, a lumber business, so as to pri 

 both teacher and pupil from running into the rni 

 of theory; so as to offer a continuous string of 

 object lessors illustrating the practical applica- 

 tion of "the word." 



A school of forestry must be in the forest and 

 near the center of forest activity. 



Lecture Topics. 

 Lectures at a forest school should cover for- 

 estrj proper, the auxiliary sciences and the basal 

 sciences underlying forestry. Scientifically sub- 

 divided, the program of a school should com- 

 prise : 



a. FOBESTBT PRCirt;r.. 



a. Forestry from the business standpoint, includ- 

 ing: 



1. Lumbering in all its branches, notably: 

 Power and transmission te. g., engines, 



boilers, pulleys, belts, turbines and so 

 on). 



Transportation (e. g., logging, sledding, 

 railroading, flumes, bridges and so on). 



Technology < e. g.. milling, veneering, coop- 

 erage, distillation of wood and so on). 



Mensuration i e. g.. cruising, lumber in- 

 specting, measuring of tree growth and 

 so on i . 



Surveying (e. g.. survey of land, of rail- 

 roads, mapping and so on). 



2. Forest finance, a science dealing with 

 banking, investments, dividends, book- 

 keeping and so on. 



3. Silviculture and forest protection, 

 branches dealing with the raising and 

 husbanding of a second growth ; with 

 the protection against fires, insects, 

 floods, and so on. 



b. Forestry from the government's standpoint 

 cor forest policy), a topic including chapters 

 on interstate law, custom duties, forest re- 

 serves, irrigation work, forest history, for- 

 estry abroad, and so on. 



r.. aimi.iai.y SCIENCES, OB ECONOMIC SCIENCES. 

 A mastery of more than the elements of the 

 various sciences is, obviously, beyond the retain- 

 ing capacity of human brains. The main prin- 

 ciples of such branches, however, with which 

 the practical woodsman is apt to come in con- 

 Should be taught at all forest schools — cut 

 to order for the students' restricted use. 



a. The elements of law. notably rei law. 

 contracts, liens, court proceedings, and so on. 



b. The elements of agriculture an. I stock rais- 

 ing the practical lumberman Is continuously 



onted by problen attire, 



c The elements of economic geology. 

 d. The elements of political economy. 



C. r.ASAi iCIl JCESj OK NATURAL SCIENl 



a. Principles of botany, notably dendrolc 



b. Principles i ology, notably entomo 



C, Principles of geology, notably geology of soils. 



d. Principles of n chemistry, pbj 



mechanics (unless the student! 

 to prove up. before entering, a knowledge in 

 these branches acquired at a high schc 



Degrees. 



The list of sciences taught at an ideal forest 



rently, of formidable length. Still, 



there is no reason why energy, natural ability 



and conscientiousness should not allow a young 



man to successfully < aminatlons in the 



enumerated. Many have dene it. and the 



be possibility is the i. 



The lieai iiiy surroundings of a forest atmos- 



. in *aclilii Ion, lend i.i stimuli - .ngth 



and the energy denl Indeed, there Is 



no need for "gymnastics" ai (be Ideal forest 



school. The lite in the w 1-. combined with 



trips "ii horseback and on toot, involves 

 plenty of bodily exer 



Since forestry is practical, it seems prepos- 

 ierous (.. distribute degrees merely on the basis 

 i high marks obtained by the student at the- 

 Ical examinations. The practical talents ex- 

 hibited by the studenl ai practical work should 

 weigh as much i o •s 'ned at exami- 

 nations. To that end, it is advisable for the 

 students to receive all lectures in the forenoon, 

 and to spend every afternoon, under proper guid- 

 ance, engaged in practical tasks in the woods. 

 Expense. 



A forestry school, to be actually efficient, must 

 make it possible tor the masses ol J ig lum- 

 bermen to attend. Consequently the course of 

 the school must be comparatively inexpensive 

 and comparatively short. 



The necessary expense should not exceed $750 

 for a course of twelve complete months, unin- 

 terrupted by vacations. There i< variety of 

 work and there is "out of doors" in plenty dur- 

 ing the school year, and long vacations do not 

 seem to be required fur simlc-m^ of forestry 

 leading the healthiest life imaginable. 



A course at the ideal forest school should, at 

 the same time, raise within the student that 

 enthusiastic esprit <l> corps and that love of 

 woodswork which secure success in life for the 

 individual as well as for the lumber fraternity. 

 Enthusiasm is life giving. 



A Call for Help. 



The ideal forest school cannot be developed 

 by any individual Irrespective of endowments. It 

 can be born and maintained only by the active, 

 cooperative interest of every intelligent man 

 whose dollars and cents are engaged in forest 

 production. 



Suggestions are required : encouragement is 

 required ; criticism is required — more than 

 money. 



The Biltmore Forest School, of which I have 

 had charge since 1897, has been striving toward 

 an ideal unaided. 



Help me to improve it ; show me where I am 

 wrong; tight me if you think lit — but do not 

 stand apathetic if you believe' with me that the 

 time is ripe for American schools of lumbering. 



I . A. SdlEXCK. 



West Virginia Timber Purchase. 

 The Gardner-Snowden Lumber company, a 

 Johnstown lias purchased 



t mile. -eland in Tucker county, 

 Wesl Virgin rom Parsons, on 



the li Ltral & Pitts- 



It is sai.i n approxi- 



mate! ted to cut 20,- 



OOO.COo r, white pine and 



od that the greater 

 portion of laid with coal. 



.mill plant now on the ground has been 

 with new machinery. 

 Jonathai Westmont heads the 



ted in the company 

 are J. D. v i, a wholesale lumberman 



of Lincoln, and .1. R. Gardner, son of J. C. 

 i tary and treas- 

 urer of the I will spend consid- 

 er time in connection with the new 



