162 THE INDIAN FOREST SCHOOL, 
given types of forest growth; the enumeration of the crop; 
the collection of information relative to the previous history 
of the forest, the demand for produce and any special forest in- 
dustries in the neighbourhood; lastly, the preparation of the work- 
ing-plan based on the above. The total time occupied is eighteen 
months. 
The course for Foresters in Hindustani is much simpler, and it 
extends over twelve months only. The first four months are 
devoted to the following subjects, which are taught in the class- 
room, viz. :—An elementary study of the growth and reproduction 
of plants, with the influences of soil and climate thereon, sowing 
and planting, mathematics, surveying and departmental pro- 
cedure. During the next two months practical surveying is 
taught ; and for the last six months of their course of instruction 
the students are taken into the forest and shown how to execute 
the most important of the works which they will be called upon 
to perform after leaving the school, such as felling, pruning, 
thinning, natural regeneration, protection against fire, and making 
lime and charcoal, as well as the measurement of timber and 
the construction of forest roads and simple buildings, and many 
other things. 
While at the school the men are encouraged to play cricket 
and to engage in athletics, prizes being given for proficiency in 
such exercises as well as in professional subjects. 
One of the great difficulties felt at the time the school was 
opened was the absence of suitable manuals of instruction, there 
being an almost entire absence of works on scientific forestry in 
the English language ; books are, however, now being gradually 
prepared, and the needed works will doubtless be available 
shortly. Considerable progress has been made in forming a 
library ; a museum, a small laboratory, and a meteorological 
observatory have been established ; and a forest garden, in which 
various cultural operations are taught, is close to the school building. 
A notable feature of the system of training adopted is that 
every student is required to go through a period of not less than 
twelve months probation in the forests before he enters the 
school. This rule has atwofold object. /%rstly, it ensures that 
the students are all familiar with forests and with the nature of the 
work that is usually in progress in them, before they attend the 
classes in the lecture room, and they are thus in a position to 
understand what is there said to them. Secondly, it avoids 
