Creation of an Ideal 515 



the latter opportunity is open usually to the sons of forestry of- 

 ficials only — for favoritism exists even under the German system. 

 In addition to this work, occurring during vacation periods, the 

 school year offers many excursions, of from one day to a v^eek's 

 duration, besides some practical training in the use of instru- 

 ments, particularly in connection with the courses in Mensuration 

 and Surveying. The excursion inspection work is very good, al- 

 though it is not possible always to arrange for the inspection 

 work to follow closely the class-room work. As a rule the entire 

 teaching force of the forest school takes part in the excursion, 

 each professor drawing attention to illustrations of his own par- 

 ticular course or courses. Thus, the German forest student, up to 

 the time of taking the State examination, has had a high grade 

 of training in theoretical forestry, very good inspection work of 

 practical operations and sufficient training in the use of instru- 

 ments to make him entirely conversant with their care and opera- 

 tion. It is entirely safe to state that, if the student has had the 

 advantage of "position," at the time of examination he has 

 had a correlation of theory and practice unequalled in America ; 

 yet he is not considered as being fully equipped for his profession. 

 Up to this time his training has been ''memory work" very large- 

 ly ; in the future it is to be of a nature to develop his executive 

 ability — in other words, a preparation to shoulder responsibility. 

 Successful competition in his State examination carries with it 

 the designation "Practicant" (in Bavaria), and he enters on a train- 

 ing period extending over three or four years, varying somewhat 

 in the different States. The first year of this period, during which 

 he receives no salary, the practicant has further opportunity for 

 the formation of ideals. He is, in reality, an advanced student in 

 forestry — a graduate student, if you please. He has been as- 

 signed to some forest where he is directly under the supervision 

 of some forest officer — Supervisor (Oberforster), Forest Assis- 

 tant (Forstassessor), Office Assistant (Adjunkt), Ranger (For- 

 ster). He is "under the supervision" of these men, yet his rela- 

 tion is rather that of a student to his teachers — they do not have 

 the right to place him at manual labor — he is there to be devel- 

 oped and purely manual labor is not a means to this end. Much 

 of his time he is in the forest with some one of these men, asking 

 and answering questions. A sample day with the Supervisor 



