HARDWOOD RECORD 



29 



it Tiasn 't long before this order was changed. 

 AVheu asked as to the cause of this, one of 

 the TTOodsmen, a big husky chap, asked what 

 chance they would have with that bunch when 

 it came to a question of grub. And yet there 

 has been a remarkable friendliness between 

 the woodsmen and the foresters. They mingle 

 before meals and talk over the operations, and 

 the fellows are given an opportunity to get 

 an insight in the finer points of the game 

 that they could not possibly do under any 

 other conditions. The camp cook had a taste 

 of the spirit of good fellowship that exists 

 in the camp, and he will swear by it. Once 

 a month the fellows have a getting-together 

 which they call a Sangerfest. A fire is built 

 and refreshments served, and on this particu- 

 lar occasion the maker of flap-jacks strolled 

 around and was invited to join tlie crowd. He 

 was a big, strong Southerner, who had ideas 

 as to his ability as a wrestler. Having se- 

 cured sundry invigoratorg, he proceeded to 

 make these ideas known, which challenge was 

 accepted with glee by the entire school. Un- 

 fortunately for Mr. ' ' Pie-man, ' ' there were 

 at that particular moment several claimants 

 for the wrestling championship of the school, 

 and none would yield to the others the first 

 opportunity to defend the school's honor. 

 He, being where he really didn't know exactly 

 whether he saw one or six foresters, was 

 afterwards escorted homeward slightly soiled, 

 but a wiser man. 



Lectures are scheduled for eight-thirty in 

 the school house, an old district school a mile 

 from camp. Even going to and from lectures 

 there is opportunity for observation, for there 

 probably doesn 't exist a finer example of 

 well-kept logging roads than those owned by 

 the Cummer-Diggins Company. From a 

 forestal standpoint there could be nothing 

 more appealing than the beautiful second 

 growth, which is found everywhere along the 

 borders of clearings. To the lecturer first 

 starting his course at Biltmore, and such spe- 

 cialists as Dr. Von Schrenck, E. S. Kellogg 

 and Ernest Seton Thompson are regularly 

 engaged, the students present an interesting 

 proposition. Most of them have had practical 

 woods experience and are with the doctor 

 purely as . a business investment. The class 

 often averages twenty-eight to twenty-nine 

 years, and numbers a good percentage of col- 

 lege graduates. They are there to learu facts 

 and. though eager to absorb such, are in- 

 tolerant of anything else. A story is told of 

 the former class who did not approve of the 

 words of wisdom which they were receiving 

 from a certain professor and decided to 

 dispense with liim. Consequently, one morn- 

 ing the entire class "lit-up" at the same 

 time, the windows having been previously 

 closed. It wasn't a great while before the 

 gentleman was pleased to beat a peaceful 

 retreat. 



While the life of the forester is made up 

 principally of hard, conscientious work, still 

 there is a good share of real pleasure mixed 

 in. There is a something in the getting to- 

 gether around the camp fire in the early even- 



ing with such a bunch of men which seems to 

 appeal to all and to bring them, with scarcely 

 an exception, to a point where they seem like 

 one big family. There is seldom a serious 

 quarrel among the fellows, and cliqueishness 

 has always been foreign to the first principles 

 of the school. Based as it is on the honor 

 system in everything, the whole idea is cal- 

 culated to appeal to the best that is in a 

 man and to reach him on his own level rather 

 than to bring him down to the level of a 

 school-boy. 



There is little use in recounting the course 

 of study, as Dr. Schenck has issued a cata- 

 logue for the benefit of those interested which 

 takes it up in detail. The pictures ac- 

 companying this article will, however, give 

 some idea of the technical field work the 

 student body is constantly engaged in. 



The idea of measuring a tree other than to 

 estimate directly the stand per acre might 

 seem useless to the practical man, but when 

 you can take a man who has never done any 

 cruising, put him through a course of tech- 

 nical common sense combined with constant 

 practical application, send him out after- 

 wards and receive a cruise on a big job that 

 is within five thousand feet of the actual 

 total cut, it shows that there is some good in 

 it. And that is what the doctor does, besides 

 teaching about everything there is to know of 

 the purely forestal side of the question. One 

 picture shows two men ascertaining the ' ' form 

 height ' ' for maple. That is a technical term, 

 to be sure, but nevertheless exceedingly prac- 

 tical. "Form height" means simply the 

 amount of volume on a unit of sectional area 

 or cross section. An average number of aver- 

 age trees are directly measured, and what 

 could be more simple or more accurate in de- 

 termining the whole stand than to merely ap- 

 ply a ' '■ form height. ' ' This is all simply to 

 show the practical value of the technical side, 

 but it is by no means all technical. The facili- 

 ties for observation at Cadillac are ex- 

 haustively utilized, and some of the students 

 are in constant attendance at the cutting 

 and loading operations, computing costs and 

 figuring out the methods of saving time and 

 labor. It is the doctor 's custom to give as 

 an examination in one of his courses a map 

 and information as to the character of a cer- 

 tain piece of timber. The student must fig- 

 ure out the whole logging and mUling propo- 

 sition, using his own judgment in everything. 



And so the time is occupied, each day 

 being different from the one before and pro- 

 ductive of some new bit of knowledge. The 

 hours are regular — breakfast at seven, lectales 

 from eight-thirty to twelve, an hour at noon, 

 and in the afternoon the class is divided up 

 on a dozen different jobs in the field. Some 

 are estimating, some on the loader, some run- 

 ning grades with a Boze and some curves with 

 a compass. The botanical end of the course 

 is a strong feature, and a considerable time 

 is spent each week in field identification of 

 the many species of the American flora. At 

 the close of the day the lamps and fires are 

 lighted and all get busy copying up the work 



of the afternoon. Each student is required 

 to keep a diary of his field work, and those 

 diaries are surely the bane of the forester 's 

 life with Dr. Schenck. 



The monotony of the close application to 

 work during the week is usually broken on 

 Saturday. In the afternoon a good percentage 

 of the fellows will be found togged out wait- 



READY FOR FIELD WORK. 



DINNER CALL. 



BETWEEN LECTURES. 



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ALL ABOARD FOR TOWN— S.\TURDAY 



