CONTINENTAL NOTES — GERMANY. l8l 



(Munich) and Oberforstmeister Riebel (Munden). The theses 

 of the former were : — 



1. The forest academies, in their present condition as isolated 

 technical schools of forestry, can no longer be considered to be 

 suitable educational institutes for probationers of the upper 

 forest services. 



2. At least half of the practical business of an officer in 

 the upper grades of the forest department consists of purely- 

 administrative affairs, which demand a thorough knowledge 

 of law, land revenue, political economy, etc., and this alone 

 would be sufficient reason for an amalgamation of forest 

 education with university teaching. There are, however, other 

 reasons which render this necessary, (a) The scientific and 

 social intercourse, with professors and scholars of other scientific 

 professions, forms both for the teachers and the probationers 

 of the forest service, a rich source of new impressions, stimulates 

 to new exertions, serves to widen their intellectual field of 

 perception, and prevents the growth of professional one- 

 sidedness. (d) A university offers the teacher ample and 

 suitable means for original research, and gives the students 

 opportunities of acquiring knowledge beyond and above that 

 strictly required by their profession, (c) A complete social and 

 official equality between the higher forest officials and similar 

 officers of other departments can only be attained if the standard 

 of education and training is equal in every respect. 



3. The university course should extend over four years. 



4. The utility of an initial practical course, preceding the 

 teaching at a university, is out of proportion to the time thus 

 consumed. 



5. The combination of forest education with agricultural 

 academies is indefensible. 



6. It is very desirable that the number of universities in 

 which forest science is to be taught should not exceed three 

 to four for the whole empire. 



The leader of the forest high school party, Mr Riebel 

 (Munden), late director at Eberswalde, opposed in the following 

 terms : — 



I. The necessity for transferring the higher forestry educa- 

 tion exclusively to universities cannot be admitted. It is more 

 to the point to teach the auxiliary sciences on which forestry 

 is based, and forest science itself, at technical high schools. 



