NEWS AND NOTES 



With the beginning of the year, the first Chinese Forest Service 

 has been inaugurated under the Department of Agriculture and 

 Commerce. The Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Chow-tsz-chi, is 

 credited with the initiative and with a genuine desire to make 

 this Service effective, taking a very active detailed interest in its 

 organization. The Vice-Minister, Mr. Ching, is ex-officio Direc- 

 tor-General of the Service, and Mr. Forsythe Sherfesee, for six 

 years employed in and lately Director of the Philippine Forestry 

 Bureau, on leave of absence for a year, has been called to act as 

 Adviser and Co-Director, another Co-Director being Mr. Ngan 

 Han, who studied forestry in Cornell and Michigan several years 

 ago, published an elementary forestry book in Chinese, and se- 

 cured experience in Manchuria regulating the operations in gov- 

 ernment timber concessions. There is also on the staff one other 

 foreigner, Mr. William Purdom, coming from Kew Gardens, who 

 acts as botanist and collector of the most necessary data, at present 

 entirely lacking. 



It is proposed to organize the Service in six divisions. Investi- 

 gation, Reforestation, Education, Propaganda, Provincial, and 

 Clerical. 



The first difficulty will, of course, be the finding of men capa- 

 ble to carry on the work in the absence of native foresters until 

 they can be educated. In the present temper of the people, 

 it might be difficult to employ any more foreigners. We are not 

 informed whether the forest school founded at Mukden a few 

 years ago is still running. 



While all this is interesting news, it would be strange if the 

 rule of "ups and downs" which has beset the development of for- 

 estry practice in other parts of the world should fail in China. 

 Indeed, we expect no clear sailing, especially in these revolution- 

 ary times. The developments which come from political changes 

 may displace the forest-friendly head of the Department and 

 substitute a less favorable one ; besides, there are peculiarities 

 and complexities in carrying on government, and obstacles which 

 we in the West do not need to consider. If we were correctly 

 informed, a first attempt at a Department of Agriculture and 



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