648 JOURNAL OF IfOREISTRY 



The very fact that the other university departments have been unable 

 to see the opportunities for development in these fields until pointed out 

 to them by the foresters shows which of the departments bears the 

 closer relation to them. Again, all the fundamental work of the first 

 two years of the division, technically known as a college, is, in practi- 

 cally all Class I universities, either identical or very closely related. 

 This is particularly true with reference to the technical divisions. The 

 nature of the fundamental work is one of the most important factors 

 used to determine the school or college to which any department be- 

 longs. On this basis the pure forestry work, as well as the so-called 

 "secondary specialties," will not fit in with any of the old-established 

 college divisions, and this probably explains why in the organization 

 of the work in this country forestry has been variously placed in agri- 

 cultural, engineering, and even the science and arts colleges, instead of 

 into separate colleges or forest schools. To place the work of logging 

 engineering or forest products on an efficient basis in any other division 

 than that of forestry would mean an entire reorganization of those 

 other departments from the ground up. On the other hand, all of the 

 newer work developed by the forest schools can be fitted into the estab- 

 lished forestry curriculum with only very slight modifications. 



The foregoing points may be well illustrated by one example. An 

 analysis of the work in wood preservation — a subject which might with 

 some justification be claimed both by chemistry and by mechanical engi- 

 neering — will readily show the investigator to which university depart- 

 ment this work belongs. Preparation for any highly specialized techni- 

 cal subject can be divided into three periods : First, the general pre- 

 requisites ; secondly, the special foundations, and finally the practical 

 applications. In order to emphasize the relation of these various groups 

 to one another, it will be necessary to discuss them in reverse order. 

 The practical course in preservation should include the economic phases 

 and relation to forest management ; wood as a material for preserva- 

 tion ; the physical, chemical, and toxic properties of preservatives ; the 

 methods of treatment, including a thorough study of apparatus, oper- 

 ation, and costs ; the use of treated wood and methods of using it, and 

 finally the business problems. The special foundations for this work 

 must include the elementary technical forestry sciences, with special 

 emphasis on wood technology, timber physics, wood utilization, and 

 forest pathology ; and the general prerequisites must cover the elements 

 of botany, chemistry, physics, mechanics, steam engineering, and eco- 

 nomics. Could such a course be given satisfactorily anywhere except 

 in a forest school? The combination of subjects included in the general 



